Self-Driving Startup Gatik Strikes Deal With Kroger

By: Trademagazin editor Date: 2023. 03. 24. 09:49

Self-driving trucking startup Gatik will double its workforce by year end, a top executive said, after it announced a deal on Wednesday with grocer Kroger to transport goods within its Dallas, Texas network.

Gatik, which operates traditional mid-sized trucks fitted with its autonomous technology, aimed to expand to 15 new US states over five years, CEO Gautam Narang told Reuters.

The company focuses on transportation over short, fixed routes for businesses.

Many in the autonomous driving industry are cutting staff or shutting down, but Gatik has found a niche by limiting its work to routes with relatively little complexity.

It delivers goods, for example, from larger distribution centres to retail locations for companies such as Walmart and Pitney Bowes. The company has hauled more than half a million customer orders on its mid-sized box trucks that have no human in the cab.

Gatik had pushed back hiring plans last year but now intended to expand its workforce to more than 250 employees from the current level of about 120, said Narang, who founded the firm in 2017.

He said the company planned to focus on deepening its current presence in Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana in the US and Ontario in Canada and to begin expanding to the 15 new states over five years, starting next year.

ESM