Gatik is a widely-used trucking company that is currently based out of Palo Alto, California. CEO Gautam Narang previously compromised with the store giant Walmart, back when the company was first founded in 2017 to officially become their go-to transportation outlet, and still is to this day. Walmart’s senior vice-president, Tom Ward, announced the overall goal and blueprint for his collaboration with the futuristic trucking corporation in a public statement that was released this past Sunday, November 7, 2021. “Through our work with Gatik, we have identified that autonomous box trucks offer an efficient, safe and sustainable solution for transporting goods on repeatable routes between our stores,” he said. “Taking the driver out is the holy grail of this technology.”
Narang has officially started the process for these specific trucks to follow their designated route without needing a human to operate the vehicle. The new Gatik robotruck’s are currently being used for delivery purposes at select Walmarts in the Bentonville, Arkansas area. Without anyone helping utilize the vehicle, the fully autonomous box trucks are successfully able to make it through a 7.1-mile trip while carrying multiple loads of Walmart’s supplies. The main goal for these solo trucks is to triumphantly transport fixed goods from their warehouse location to their specifically assigned stores without any interruptions.
After this information was made available to the eyes and ears of the public Ward announced to his customers, “We are 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.” By entering the next stage of their operation, Gatik is officially propelling themselves to becoming, “the first time any autonomous trucking company has operated commercial delivery routes without a human back,” according to Narang. This is just the beginning of many technologically advanced delivery services to come.