TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA - It was in November of 2020 when we reported that Loblaw had entered a multi-year partnership with Gatik to deploy a fleet of autonomous delivery vehicles in Canada. As of recently, the two officially launched Gatik’s fully driverless commercial operations to move select online grocery orders for Loblaw’s PC Express service with a fleet of multi-temperature autonomous box trucks.

“Working with Gatik, we’ve demonstrated that autonomous driving technology enables supply chain efficiency, moving more orders more frequently for our customers,” said David Markwell, Chief Technology and Analytics Officer at Loblaw. “Being the first in Canada with this technology and deploying a fully driverless solution is exciting and illustrates our commitment to making grocery shopping better for customers.”

Since they began their partnership, the two have transported more than 150,000 autonomous deliveries (with a safety driver on board), with a 100 percent safety record. This recent fully driverless deployment represents one of the first times that an autonomous trucking company has removed the safety driver from a daily delivery route in Canada, according to a press release. The autonomous delivery will enable Loblaw to operate more routes and make more frequent trips.

An extensive, third-party safety review commissioned by Loblaw verified that the autonomous technology was endorsed on these routes. This review took place over a three-month period that included various assessments, which paved the way for Gatik’s fleet to transport ambient, refrigerated, and frozen goods seven days a week from a Loblaw distribution facility to five nearby retail locations.

“This milestone marks the expansion of Gatik’s autonomous delivery service to Loblaw’s customers across multiple sites,” said Gautam Narang, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Gatik. “Canada is the latest market in which we’ve launched our fully driverless service, further validating that the tangible benefits of autonomous delivery are being realized first in B2B short-haul logistics. It’s a privilege to achieve this commercial and technical landmark with Canada’s largest retailer.”

The press release went on to note that Gatik focuses exclusively on facilitating frequent, point-to-point deliveries across the middle mile to maximize safety, using proprietary, commercial-grade autonomous technology that is purpose-built for B2B short-haul logistics.

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