Shift Magazine - March 2021 - S23

MIDDLE GROUND
Gatik capitalizes on growing demand for shorter-distance deliveries

BY PETE BIGELOW

autam Narang has little interest in
solving the vexing and vast challenges awaiting self-driving vehicles as they're deployed across
the broad transportation landscape.
He does intend to solve them, however, in specific areas.
The co-founder and CEO of self-driving
truck startup Gatik believes the technical complexities of autonomous operations can be substantially reduced when
vehicles are deployed along repeatable
routes. The best way to deploy autonomous vehicles: one road at a time.
" We are not trying to boil the ocean
and solve every tricky autonomous-driving scenario, " he said.
" We are constraining
the problem. If that
means sticking to the
right-most
lane
or
making three right turns
to make a left, all of that
is fair game. "
Such logistical twists
Narang: Focus
might annoy human
is fixed routes
passengers, but in the
freight world, no one cares so long as their
goods get delivered. That's why Gatik has
concentrated on launching self-driving
trucks on what Narang calls fixed " middle
mile " routes that connect distribution
hubs, warehouses and retail stores.
So far, that strategy has worked.
Gatik's trucks, which run from Class 3
through Class 6 sizes, have logged revenue-generating miles for customers that
include Walmart and Loblaw, Canada's
largest grocery chain.
As the COVID-19 pandemic accelerates
e-commerce and demand for consumer
goods and the logistics chain adapts by
creating more " dark stores " - sites for
online-order fulfillment rather than in-person shopping - and micro-distribution

Gatik intends to begin driverless operations with Walmart near Bentonville, Ark., this year.

hubs, more business opportunity will arise
among the hub-and-spoke routes in which
Gatik specializes.
Walmart has been an eager partner for
the startup based in Palo Alto, Calif. Gatik
intends to begin driverless operations
that will connect a Walmart dark store to
a neighborhood market, Walmart's name
for its smaller-footprint locations, near
the retail giant's Bentonville, Ark., headquarters sometime this year.
Gatik has not constrained itself to
developments related to autonomous
driving. In mid-February, it added three
Ford Transit 350 HD delivery vehicles
that also are equipped with electric powertrains. The vehicles use electric drive
technology from Via Motors Inc.
In long-range trucking, electrified tractor-trailers might be a difficult sell because
of limited range and battery weight. But
for trips that run in the dozens of miles
such as the ones Gatik handles, EVs
provide lower energy and maintenance
costs, savings that can be passed along
to customers.
" Electrification for short-haul logistics

really makes sense, " said Richard Steiner,
Gatik's head of policy and communications. " They're perfectly suited for one
another. "
The EVs have been connecting a
Walmart Superstore in New Orleans with
a pickup hub in a suburb. The distance
between the locations is approximately
20 miles, well within the vehicles' 120mile range.
Charging infrastructure is being installed at both hub and destination so the
vehicles can recharge while goods are
loaded and unloaded.
Long term, Gatik envisions trucks completing middle mile routes of as long as
400 miles per day. But the bulk of the
routes it operates along now are in the
range of 150 to 200 miles per day. With
charging during stops, those can be completed by electric box trucks.
" Electrification is definitely on the road
map, " Narang said.
" For our segment and the kind of use
cases and ranges we do ... I would say
that's at the top of the wish list for our
partners. " n
march 2021 * shift

Shift Magazine - March 2021

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