Canada’s First Autonomous Delivery Fleet
PALO ALTO, Calif. and Toronto, Canada – November 23, 2020 – Gatik, an autonomous technology company deploying autonomous vehicles for B2B short-haul middle-mile logistics, today announced a multi-year partnership with Loblaw Companies Limited (TSX: L, “Loblaw”) to deploy a fleet of autonomous delivery vehicles in Toronto, Ontario. Beginning January 2021, Gatik will provide Loblaw with a safe, reliable, contactless delivery solution for transporting multi-temperature goods from its automated picking facility to retail locations across the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). This deployment creates Canada’s first autonomous delivery fleet.
From Pilot Program to Autonomous Delivery Fleet in Canada
Gatik completed a 10-month on-road pilot in Toronto with one autonomous delivery vehicle. Today’s announcement follows that success. To meet Loblaw’s unique retailing needs, Gatik upfits Ford Transit 350 box trucks with refrigeration units and lift gates. It also installs its proprietary autonomous self-driving software for urban, suburban, and highway driving. Gatik will operate five vehicles for Loblaw. The fleet will run up to 7 days a week and 12 hours a day. It will operate on five routes on public roads with fixed pick-up and drop-off locations. Each vehicle will include a safety driver as a co-pilot.
Strenghtening Middle-Mile Logistics Through an Autonomous Delivery Fleet in Canada
“Loblaw is one of Canada’s leading grocery retailers. We are proud that Loblaw selected us to enhance the safety and efficiency of its already robust supply chain,” said Gautam Narang, CEO and Co-founder of Gatik. “Retailers know that the biggest inefficiencies in their logistics operations often exist in the middle-mile. These inefficiencies typically occur between automated picking facilities and retail locations. Gatik operates and succeeds in this segment. This focus allows us to offer immediate value to our customers. We are delighted to partner with Loblaw in addressing this critical piece of their supply chain.”
Proven Performance of the Autonomous Delivery Fleet in Canada
To date, Gatik has completed more than 30,000 revenue-generating autonomous orders. It has served multiple customers across North America.
“As more Canadians turn to online grocery shopping, we’ve looked at ways to make our supply chain more efficient. Middle-mile autonomous delivery is a great example,” said Lauren Steinberg, Senior Vice President, Loblaw Digital. “ With this initial roll-out in Toronto, we can move goods from our automated picking facility multiple times a day. This helps us keep pace with PC Express online grocery orders in stores around the city.”
About Gatik
Gatik is in the business of autonomous freight. The company operates driverless trucks daily for Fortune 50 retailers, grocers and CPG companies, moving freight between distribution centers and stores across Texas, Arizona, Arkansas, and Canada. Gatik has a strong safety record across its operations and is powered by the Gatik Driver™, a scalable, interpretable AI system purpose-built to enable safe, consistent, and high-frequency freight movement. For more information, visit gatik.ai.
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains “forward-looking statements” that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements generally relate to future events or Gatik’s future financial or operating performance. Forward-looking statements include information concerning possible or assumed future results of operations, including descriptions of our business plan and strategies, revenue targets and trends we expect to affect our business. These statements often include words such as “contracted,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “may,” “can,” “should,” “could,” “might,” “plan,” “possible,” “project,” “strive,” “budget,” “forecast,” “expect,” “intend,” “target”, “will,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential,” “continue,” “scheduled”. Forward-looking statements may also be made, verbally or in writing, by members of our Board or management team in connection with this news release.
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Media Contact:
Aarthi Sivaraman
aarthi.sivaraman@gatik.ai
