Canada’s largest food retailer, Loblaw Companies, will stock more of its shelves using driverless trucks through a renewed partnership with Silicon Valley startup Gatik.
The agreement will initially deploy 20 Gatik-powered autonomous trucks across Loblaw’s distribution network in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) by the end of this year, then another 30 trucks by the end of 2026.
Gatik worked closely with Ontario’s Transportation Ministry to develop an automated commercial motor vehicle pilot.
The expanded fleet will have safety drivers onboard and eventually transition to driverless operations to support the more than 300 Loblaws stores in the GTA, Gatik said in a statement. The contract represents $50 million in revenue for Gatik, a company spokesperson told BetaKit. Loblaw also made a strategic investment in the company as part of the expanded agreement, but the spokesperson would not share more details.
“Autonomous logistics will enable us to move more orders more frequently for our customers,” Loblaw chief administrator Rob Wiebe said in a statement. “We are excited to continue leading the way nationally in retail distribution with Gatik’s groundbreaking technology, which has already been proven across our operations.”
Gatik claimed the agreement marks the largest planned roll-out of autonomous trucks in North America, moving the technology from initial deployment to bona fide commercial operations. Loblaw first partnered with Gatik to test one autonomous delivery vehicle in Toronto in 2020, then raised its commitment to five box trucks in the GTA in early 2021. The duo went on to test fully driverless options for the first time in 2022.
In preparation for the expanded partnership, Gatik worked closely with the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO) to help develop the province’s Automated Commercial Motor Vehicle (ACMV) Pilot Program. The ten-year pilot program kicked off on Aug. 1 and allows approved participants to test ACMV technologies on Ontario roads to evaluate performance and assess potential safety improvements.
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The pilot has streams both with and without someone in the driver’s seat, but an assistant is always present, either in the vehicle or remotely.
Founded in 2017, Gatik focuses on middle-mile, business-to-business logistics for large companies. It has driverless operations underway in Texas, Ontario, Arkansas, and Arizona. Headquartered in Mountain View, California, Gatik has offices in Dallas-Fort Worth and Toronto. Gatik counts Intact Ventures and Weston family-backed Wittington Ventures among its investors.
Gatik expanded its partnership with Japanese commercial vehicle manufacturer Isuzu Motors last year to develop and produce its self-driving trucks. As part of that expanded deal, Isuzu also made an equity investment of $41 million CAD ($30 million USD) into Gatik.
Canada’s homegrown autonomous trucking startup, Toronto-based Waabi, aims to have its human-free, self-driving trucks deployed by the end of the year. Waabi appointed the CEO of Uber’s freight operations arm, Lior Ron, as COO last month to help its transition from development to deployment.
Feature image courtesy Gatik.