Autonomous box trucks powered by Gatik are now transporting customer orders from a Walmart fulfillment center to a Neighborhood Market store in Bentonville, Arkansas, without a safety driver.
Gatik’s deployment with Walmart in Arkansas represents the first time an autonomous trucking company has removed the safety driver from a middle mile commercial delivery route anywhere in the world. As described by Gatik, the restricted operational design domain of the middle mile route with Walmart allows for the removal of the safety driver (the autonomous box trucks operate on a seven-mile loop in Bentonville).
In addition to inspiring other similar business models, what Walmart and Gatik are doing may aid consumer adoption of higher levels of ADAS and autonomy. Our editor, Carl Anthony, was invited on MarketScale TV to discuss how seeing these autonomous box trucks on the road may help consumers warm up to the technology. Play the video below to see more.
