Walmart launches driverless grocery delivery in the US with Gatik trucks
Autonomous driving startup and RBR50 2020 winner Gatik continues to reach new milestones in its partnership with Walmart. The company announced that two Level 4 autonomous box trucks operating in Bentonville, Arkansas, where retail giant Walmart is headquartered, no longer have a safety driver behind the wheel.
However, the box trucks are not entirely driverless. Gatik still has a person in the passenger seat of each vehicle with access to an emergency brake, who helps correct situations if the autonomous driving system fails.
The new service is part of Walmart's shift to a "hub-and-spoke" model, in which warehouses or fulfillment centers are located closer to customers. Gatik CEO Gautam Narang told CNBC: "This means the warehouses will be smaller, so the need for repeated trips from fulfillment centers to pickup points is growing. That's where we came in."
Gatik said its vehicles make 4-6 trips per day on a route of 11.4 km (a seven-mile route) round trip. The vehicles carry customer orders between a Walmart dark store (warehouse) and a Neighborhood Market (Walmart store). Operations without a driver behind the wheel began back in August 2021.
“Arkansas and Gatik have moved into the future with Gatik's driverless delivery truck. It is only natural that Arkansas, home to some of the world's largest retailers, is the launchpad for this innovation in retail delivery”
In December 2020, Gatik and Walmart received the first-ever approval from the Arkansas State Highway Commission for driverless operation of Gatik's autonomous trucks after completing 18 months of successful operation. As part of its roadmap to fully autonomous operations, Gatik implemented a comprehensive stakeholder engagement strategy involving state and local emergency services leaders, and will continue to hold regular informational workshops about its pioneering autonomous operations.
Gatik's driverless operations involve sequential, repeated deliveries several times a day, seven days a week, on public roads, and deliver all the benefits of autonomous delivery to Walmart customers: faster and more timely fulfillment of e-commerce orders, more efficient use of assets, and improved safety for all road users.
Gatik was founded in 2017 and emerged from stealth mode in 2019 with Walmart as a partner. The company earns revenue by helping Walmart automate middle-mile logistics. Gatik also works with Loblaw, Canada's largest supermarket chain with more than 2,400 stores.
“Our Bentonville deployment is not a one-off demonstration. These are frequent, revenue-generating daily runs that our trucks safely perform in varied conditions on public roads, demonstrating the commercial and technical benefits of driverless operation in the middle mile”
Walmart has tested autonomous vehicles for last-mile delivery, including from Cruise, Nuro and Waymo.
“Through our work with Gatik, we have determined that autonomous trucks offer an efficient, safe and sustainable solution for transporting goods along recurring routes between our stores. We are proud to work with Gatik to achieve this industry-first driverless milestone in our home state of Arkansas, and we look forward to continuing to use this technology to serve Walmart customers quickly”
Gatik's box truck always stays in the rightmost lane and makes only right turns. This is by design. The company limits its vehicles to fixed, repeatable routes to minimize uncertainty about their movements. By staying in the right lane, Gatik avoids lane changes and unprotected left turns. The latter is one of the most difficult maneuvers for autonomous vehicles. Gatik also avoids routes that pass fire stations, hospitals and schools because of their unpredictability.
Gatik is a leader in middle-mile autonomous logistics, safely and efficiently delivering goods using its fleet of light and medium-duty trucks. To date, the company has raised $114.5 million in investment, is backed by Koch Disruptive Technologies, Innovation Endeavors and Wittington Ventures, and works with industry leaders including Ryder, Goodyear and Isuzu. It also recently expanded its testing to Texas.
Walmart is not the first supermarket to go fully driverless, as Kroger partnered with startup Nuro to deliver groceries as early as 2018. However, at launch, Nuro's delivery vehicles were tiny minivans, while Walmart and Gatik use full-size vans.
Walmart and Gatik are running similar tests in New Orleans with electric trucks, delivering goods directly to where the customer picks them up. However, these are currently operated with drivers on board for safety, so the Arkansas trial is the first driverless route.
