GOODQUESTION Readers Weigh In
When Will We Start Seeing Fully Autonomous Supply Chains?
IN 5-10 YEARS. I’d have to check when Skynet took over in the Terminator movies. More realistically, to encompass forecasting, sourcing, planning, ordering, delivering, and everything in between, early adopters could reach full autonomy in as few as 5-10 years. Late adopters are 10+ years away. –Robert Humphry Senior Sales Director, Swisslog Americas NEVER. While automation drives efficiency and higher output, it does not eliminate the workforce; it reshapes it. As more warehouses adopt autonomous mobile robots and AI-coordinated workflows, they will always need people to work alongside these systems. –James Kuffner Chief Technology Officer, Symbotic EARLY 2030s. We’ll see truly autonomous supply chains emerge in the early 2030s. We’re still operating in “islands of automation,” where systems work in silos but fail at handoffs. The real shift is toward end- to-end integration powered by AI and shared data. It’s a heavy lift, but the foundation is being built now. –Timothy O’Connell Vice President, Sales Operations & Marketing, Odyssey Logistics WE WON’T. I don’t think we’ll ever see fully autonomous supply chains. Technology can automate steps, but logistics runs on human judgment: the relationships, decisions, and instincts that keep cargo moving, particularly when plans go awry. –David Weeks Supply Chain Industry Practice Lead, Moody’s
100% Autonomous? Up in the Air
Trick question. Full autonomy is likely already happening in some small pockets of the global economy. Scale is the real variable. Agentic AI is collapsing timelines fast: By 2030 the tech is ready and deployed for most routine decisions. However, 100% autonomy at scale takes decades: Human organizations change slower than technology. The last few percent? Not a technology gap. A human choice. –Tommi Vilkamo Engineering Director, RELEX Solutions It’s more impactful to ask, “When can we automate the 90% of operational work that actually drives cost and complexity?” That threshold arrives far sooner than most people think. The final 10% of edge cases will always require human judgment. The goal of automation should be focused on removing the operational burden that holds businesses back rather than striving for perfection. –Stefan Heck CEO, Nauto
SOON, within the next six months. I can run a small supply chain with a decent level of complexity using autonomous agents backed by data logic. We no longer need the job of a transportation manager, and once robots/hardware/autonomous vehicles are more integrated into the physical spaces of the supply chain, we’ll be able to run fully autonomous. –George Maksimenko CEO, Adexin WITHIN THE NEXT 10 YEARS. This will initially be relatively simple, straightforward supply chains with few decision making points and low complexity achieving 100% autonomy. The majority of supply chains may never achieve full autonomy, especially
complex ones with many decision points, and a variety of products and handling requirements. –Gagan Luthra UNCERTAIN. Supply chain autonomy won’t arrive all at once and may never be fully hands-off. The limiter isn’t AI, it’s data integrity, process discipline, and trust. By 2032– VP, Systems Product Management, Impinj 2035, AI agents will autonomously sense, decide, and act in execution- level domains like warehouses and fulfillment. AI won’t replace people but let them focus on what machines can’t: governance, ethics, and strategy. –Dag Calafell Director of Technology Innovation, MCA Connect
6 Inbound Logistics • March 2026
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