because claims that this is a world first: Walmart began using its driving automation technology to make deliveries without a safety driver behind the wheel.
Travel between a warehouse and a Walmart store in Bentonville, Arkansas is by fully self-contained, temperature-controlled truck multiple times a day, seven days a week. According to the press release issued jointly by Gatik and Walmart, the formula makes it possible to speed up the response to electronic commands, optimize the use of equipment and increase the level of safety for all road users.
“We are excited to work with Gatik in reaching this pivotal industry moment of driverless delivery in Arkansas, our home state, and we look forward to continuing to use this technology to serve customers. from Walmart with speed,” said Tom Ward, senior vice president of last mile at Walmart US
For his part, Gautam Narang, co-founder and CEO of Gatik, believes that this new stage of safety driverless deliveries represents “a revolutionary breakthrough for the autonomous trucking industry. »
“These are frequent, revenue-generating deliveries that our trucks make safely in a range of conditions on public roads, demonstrating the business and technical benefits of driverless operations in the middle mile,” added Gatik’s spokesperson.
Gatik and Walmart received the green light from Arkansas authorities to remove the safety driver from self-driving trucks in December 2020, after 18 months of hassle-free operations.
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