Last updated on December 12th, 2024
Gatik AI and The Kroger Co. have announced the launch of the companies’ multi-year commercial collaboration, which has medium-duty autonomous box trucks hauling fresh products to multiple stores from the grocer’s customer fulfillment center in Dallas, Texas.
To celebrate the strides made since beginning local operations earlier this year, the companies came together for a ribbon-cutting ceremony with city and state officials and representatives from Texas’ departments of transportation and public safety.
Over the past eight months, Gatik has made several daily deliveries, seven days per week, across Kroger’s Dallas distribution network. The operations have increased the speed, responsiveness and frequency of fulfilling the grocer’s e-commerce orders.
“Kroger is committed to creating a seamless shopping experience for our customers – whether that’s through home delivery, a store pick-up or shopping in the store, and our collaboration with Gatik enables us to continue and enhance that experience,” said Ben Hamilton, VP of logistics and engineering network strategy.
“What has always been important to customers is that they get what they need on time. But what we have seen through this collaboration is that as important as it is to be on time, it is also really important to have good customer service.
“With Gatik’s autonomous box trucks, we are able to be quicker with our deliveries, and focus more on the customer service side of things, which ultimately leads to happier customers and repeat customers.”
The support from city and state government officials has been instrumental in facilitating the arrangement, which the companies said underscores Texas’ commitment to fostering technological innovation, advancing a high-performance transportation ecosystem and ensuring economic growth.
“Texas is at the center of Gatik’s commercial growth strategy, so we’re very pleased to see the tangible benefits of our autonomous trucking solution realized through our partnership with Kroger,” said Gautam Narang, the company’s CEO and co-founder.
Through 2025, Gatik is on track to achieve freight-only operations at scale, which involves deploying its autonomous trucks without people on board.
Read more supply chain news from The Shelby Report.
