Autonomous trucking company Gatik and Walmart Inc. have announced that Gatik is operating daily without a safety driver behind the wheel on its delivery route for Walmart in Bentonville, Arkansas. The deployment represents the first time that the safety driver has been removed from a commercial delivery route on the middle mile anywhere in the world.
Gatik’s fully driverless operations, which began in August 2021, involve consistent, repeated delivery runs multiple times per day, seven days per week on public roads.
The complex urban route in Bentonville involves safely navigating intersections, traffic lights and merging on dense urban roads.
In December 2020, Gatik and Walmart received the Arkansas State Highway Commission’s first ever approval to remove the safety driver from Gatik’s autonomous trucks, following the completion of 18 months’ successful operations.
Gautam Narang, CEO and co-founder, Gatik, says: “This milestone signifies a revolutionary breakthrough for the autonomous trucking industry. Our deployment in Bentonville is not a one-time demonstration. These are frequent, revenue-generating, daily runs that our trucks are completing safely in a range of conditions on public roads, demonstrating the commercial and technical advantages of fully driverless operations on the middle mile. We’re thrilled to enable Walmart’s customers to reap the benefits.”
Tom Ward, senior vice president of last mile at Walmart U.S. adds: “Through our work with Gatik, we’ve identified that autonomous box trucks offer an efficient, safe and sustainable solution for transporting goods on repeatable routes between our stores. We’re thrilled to be working with Gatik to achieve this industry-first, driverless milestone in our home state of Arkansas and look forward to continuing to use this technology to serve Walmart customers with speed.”
Founded in 2017 by veterans of the autonomous technology industry, the company has offices in Mountain View, California, and Toronto.
Gatik has raised a total of $114.5 million and has partnered with industry leaders including Ryder, Goodyear and Isuzu.
Keyword: Gatik And Walmart Achieve Fully Driverless Deliveries (Minus a Safety Driver)