TwinswHeel
French startup designing autonomous two-wheeled delivery droids for last-mile urban logistics, including assistance for people with reduced mobility.
TwinswHeel is a French startup founded in 2016 that designs and manufactures autonomous two-wheeled delivery robots, branded as droids, for urban last-mile logistics in city center and pedestrian environments. The company is headquartered in Lyon, with an additional office in Cahors, France, and positions its technology as a sustainable alternative to motorized delivery vehicles in dense urban zones where traffic congestion, emissions regulations, and low-emission zone restrictions increasingly constrain conventional freight transport. TwinswHeel's droids are engineered to carry payloads of up to 300 kilograms, a load capacity substantially exceeding that of most competing lightweight sidewalk delivery robots and enabling the platform to address professional logistics, retail, and utility use cases that require moving substantial cargo rather than individual small parcels.
The droids operate in two primary modes: a collaborative follow-me mode in which the robot autonomously tracks and follows a human operator walking ahead, and a fully autonomous mode in which onboard artificial intelligence governs navigation, obstacle detection, path planning, and route execution without human intervention. TwinswHeel has validated its technology through real-world operational deployments across multiple French cities, including a trial with Casino Group's Franprix supermarket banner to assist elderly and mobility-impaired customers in transporting groceries, a deployment supporting Enedis power grid repair technicians in central Toulouse, and autonomous delivery tests conducted in Montpellier in collaboration with La Poste, the French national postal service, and refrigerated transport specialist STEF. The startup partnered with Siemens to apply Simcenter simulation software to model and validate the advanced safety mechanisms required for operating heavy autonomous robots in shared pedestrian environments.
TwinswHeel has attracted international media attention, including coverage by Reuters and technical publications such as Tech Monitor, reflecting broader European interest in autonomous urban logistics solutions as city authorities restrict conventional delivery vehicles. The company's focus on heavier cargo capacity differentiates it from lightweight parcel delivery robots and expands the addressable market to professional logistics operators, utility field service teams, and municipal service providers that require substantial load-carrying capability in pedestrian and low-traffic urban zones. By targeting these higher-value commercial applications, TwinswHeel aims to build sustainable revenue from logistics operators facing regulatory pressure to decarbonize and reduce congestion in urban delivery operations.
Primary type & automation activities this supplier delivers:
TwinswHeel Autonomous Delivery Droid
Two-wheeled self-balancing autonomous robot for last-mile urban delivery and in-store mobility assistance; carries up to 300 kg, range ~15 miles, uses AI vision and 5G connectivity.
Contact TwinswHeel
WEBSITE
https://www.twinswheel.frHEADQUARTERS
France
Company Facts
Founded
2015
Primary Role
Manufacturer
Company Size
employees 10-50
Primary Region
Europe
Annual Sales
-
Funding Stage
-
Funding Total
-
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