Walmart (Bentonville, Ark.) announced it has successfully begun to incorporate driverless trucks for its virtual grocery business, according to WWD.
The mass merchant partnered with start-up Gatik (Palo Alto, CA) for the project, and since August, they have successfully and continuously operated two autonomous trucks on a short route, daily, for up to 12 hours at a time, in Bentonville, AK, according to the companies. Walmart and Gatik are also testing driverless trucks in New Orleans, Dallas-Ft. Worth and San Antonio, WWD reports. (Separately, Gatik is currently testing driverless trucks with Loblaw’s in Toronto.)
Tom Ward, senior vice president of Last Mile at Walmart U.S., said, “Through out work with Gatik, we’ve identified that autonomous box trucks offer an efficient, safe and sustainable solution for transporting goods on repeatable routes between our stores.”
The program is set to be expanded to other parts of the country, and Walmart hopes that this new technology will help with speed and minimize inefficiencies, as well as combat any driver shortages.