The alternative to Gideon is Q-Loader.
Gideon, formerly Gideon Brothers, is a Croatian company with Toyota Industries as a strategic investor and a US manufacturing presence in Illinois. Trey is a direct analogue to the FoxBot, aimed at the same dock. They publish a clean specification sheet, which is more than several competitors do.
What Gideon builds
Trey — an autonomous forklift built specifically for trailer loading and unloading, in medium- and heavy-duty variants.
Line by line, from their published specs.
Sources are listed at the foot of this page. Where Gideon does not publish a figure, the cell says so instead of carrying a guess.
| CAPABILITY | RAMS | GIDEON | EDGE |
|---|---|---|---|
| How the trailer is worked | The whole trailer load moved in one machine cycle | Pallet by pallet with an autonomous forklift[1] | RAMS |
| Published loading rate | 33 Euro pallets per load | 25 pallets per hour[1] | RAMS |
| Payload | 24 t maximum trailer load | 3,500 lb medium duty; 6,000 lb heavy duty[1] | RAMS |
| Lift height | N/A — trailer-load transfer | 65 in medium duty; 53 in heavy duty[1] | Even |
| Battery runtime | Mains powered | 12+ hours medium duty; 10+ hours heavy duty[1] | Them |
| Work beyond the dock | Full VisionNav range | Trailer loading and unloading only[2] | RAMS |
| Business model | RaaS — payment after the agreed threshold | Not publishednot published | RAMS |
RAMS figures are our own claims and we will substantiate any of them on a call.
Where Gideon beats us
Written in earnest. If one of these is the thing your operation turns on, Gideon may be your answer and we would rather say so now.
Toyota Industries took a strategic investment in September 2024 and will integrate Gideon's vision technology into Toyota's global automated-vehicle portfolio. That is meaningful validation and meaningful long-term backing.
A clean published specification sheet with payload, lift height, battery runtime and turning radius stated — more transparency than several competitors offer.
Named logistics customers: DB Schenker, who are also an investor, plus Dot Foods and Loblaws.
Long battery runtime — 12+ hours on the medium-duty variant covers a full shift and then some.
Where RAMS wins
25 pallets an hour is the ceiling of the approach
Gideon publishes 25 pallets per hour for Trey. A 33-pallet trailer at that rate is most of an hour and a half. Q-Loader moves the trailer load in one transfer because it is not a forklift.
Payload class
Trey handles 3,500 lb medium duty and 6,000 lb heavy duty per Gideon's specification page. Q-Loader is rated for a 24-tonne trailer load.
A range past the dock
Trey does one job in one place. RAMS puts the dock and the racking and the yard under one contract, with the reach and VNA trucks Gideon does not build.
A published way to buy it
Gideon publishes no commercial model. RAMS offers RaaS with payment starting after performance.
Check the payload number they quote you
Gideon's marketing page states 5,000 lb for the heavy-duty Trey while their technical specification page states 6,000 lb for the same variant. Worth pinning down in writing before it goes in a business case.
Gideon, for your vendor diligence
- Founded 2016 in Zagreb, Croatia, with US manufacturing in Bolingbrook, Illinois. Rebranded from Gideon Brothers; gideonbros.ai now redirects to gideon.ai.
- $31M Series A in June 2021. Toyota Industries strategic investment announced September 2024, amount undisclosed. No funding round announced since.
Sources for every Gideon figure above
Checked August 2026. Vendors revise their specifications; if you find one of these out of date, tell us at info@ramsmfg.com and we will correct the page.
Bring us the operation, not the brochure.
Thirty minutes, an engineer, and your actual throughput numbers. If Gideon is the better fit for what you described, that is what you will hear.
Book a 30-minute call