Gatik to Conduct Autonomous Grocery Deliveries for Kroger in Dallas

Latest big customer signing will start out with safety drivers

Autonomous short-haul trucking provider Gatik has signed Kroger as a customer for Dallas-area deliveries (Photo: Gatik)

Gatik to Initiate Autonomous Grocery Transport for Kroger in Dallas Area

In response to the growing demand for online order pickups, Gatik will begin transporting groceries from Kroger's customer fulfillment center in Dallas to local stores using autonomous vehicles.

Gatik, headquartered in Mountain View, California, will deploy medium-duty box trucks for these deliveries, substituting 53-foot trailers for the more difficult-to-navigate Class 8 day cabs. The Gatik trucks are outfitted with a 20-foot cold chain-enabled box designed for the rapid, secure, and efficient transport of ambient, refrigerated, and frozen goods.

Gatik's autonomous deliveries for Kroger are slated to start in the second quarter, initially featuring safety drivers to oversee truck performance. As the routes become increasingly familiar, the drivers will be gradually removed. The multiyear partnership includes at least four deliveries per day, seven days a week, throughout Kroger's Dallas distribution network.

Gatik's Clientele Comprises 10 Fortune 500 Companies

Each hub-and-spoke route averages around 60 miles per round trip, such as traveling from a distribution center to a store and then back.

Gatik's co-founder and CEO, Gautam Narang, remarked that Kroger's commitment to enhancing customer service through cutting-edge technology facilitated the rapid establishment of their partnership. Our autonomous fleet is already familiar with the conditions in Dallas.

Gatik will make a minimum of four autonomous runs per day from Kroger’s Dallas distribution center to stores in the area to bolster Kroger’s efforts in consumer online ordering and pickup of groceries (Photo: Gatik)

Gatik operates more than 45 trucks, 25 of which are located in Texas, to serve clients such as Pitney Bowes and Georgia-Pacific.

In a press release, Kroger's vice president of supply chain strategy and technology enablers, Ral Bujalil, stated, "These self-driving box trucks will help us keep our promise to provide a frictionless shopping experience, where customers can access their favorite fresh foods without sacrificing value or convenience."

Gatik's light- and medium-duty trucks focus on short-haul, B2B logistics for ten Fortune 500 clients, including Walmart and Loblaw. In 2019, the company began commercial operations, and in 2021, "driverless" operations. In Arkansas and Ontario, Gatik's Autonomous Transportation as a Service (ATaaS) has successfully completed over 500,000 deliveries.

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