An AGV is a mobile industrial vehicle that transports parts, pallets, or tools through a plant using automated guidance, such as markers, maps, magnetic paths, or wireless control. In modern factories, AGVs are often connected to private 5G, Wi-Fi, or industrial control systems so they can move with minimal human intervention.
From a cyber-security perspective, AGVs matter because they are not just endpoints: they are physical assets whose behavior can affect safety, production flow, and inventory accuracy. Attackers may try to disrupt navigation, spoof commands, jam connectivity, or abuse maintenance access to stop vehicles or redirect them. Defenders protect AGVs with strong device identity, segmented networks, authenticated control channels, and fail-safe behavior when signals are lost. Monitoring telemetry and testing recovery paths are also important, because even short outages can create operational bottlenecks.