MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Gatik CEO Gautam Narang, and Gatik CTO Arjun Narang both spoke at FreightWaves’ Future of Supply Chain event this week in Rogers, Arkansas, providing leadership insights on Gatik’s journey, long-term commercial partnerships, and the company’s approach to the development of autonomous technology purpose-built for B2B short-haul logistics.
Gautam Narang, CEO delivered industry keynote
Gautam Narang shared insights on how the company's exclusive focus on the supply chain’s middle mile is helping the nation's largest retailers optimize their short-haul logistics networks, reduce labor costs and enable consumers to access goods with speed and efficiency. During his keynote Gautam explored what it takes to commercialize driverless operations, highlighted how Gatik has become the market leader in autonomous middle mile logistics during the past 5 years and shone a light on why the middle mile is playing a pivotal role in the logistics sector this decade.
Arjun Narang, CTO and Gautam Narang, CEO conducted a live broadcast on FreightWaves TV with host Grace Sharkey
Gatik’s co-founders gave an exclusive deep dive into the company’s approach to achieving fully driverless commercial operations with Walmart in their home state of Arkansas, a worldwide first for the autonomous trucking industry. Arjun Narang, who led the development and integration of Gatik's commercial-grade autonomous technology, discussed the company’s approach towards system architecture, validation and implementation that enabled Gatik to successfully remove the driver more quickly than companies focussed on other applications, such as passenger transportation and last-mile delivery.
Gatik has a proud commercial history in Arkansas, where the industry event took place, and an impressive track record of working closely with state and local authorities to bring the true benefits of autonomous delivery to Arkansans. In 2020, Gatik and Walmart received the first approval ever granted by the Arkansas State Highway Commission to remove the safety driver from Gatik’s autonomous trucks, following the completion of 18 months’ successful operations. As part of its roadmap to operating fully driverless, Gatik undertook a comprehensive stakeholder engagement strategy, involving state and local leadership, law enforcement and first responders, and continues to hold ongoing educational workshops with the local community.
As e-commerce sales continue to grow at an unprecedented rate, so does consumer demand for curb-side pickup and same-day delivery, forcing retailers and distributors to build their distribution networks closer to end-consumers. This shift has created an acute need for a middle mile delivery solution to address critical industry pain points. Gatik’s autonomous fleet reduces costs, establishes speed and reliability on the supply chain's middle mile, increases product flow and drives sustainability. Since commencing commercial operations in 2019, Gatik has achieved a 100 percent safety record across multiple operational sites in North America including Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana and Ontario.
About Gatik
Gatik, the leader in autonomous middle mile logistics, delivers goods safely and efficiently using its fleet of light and medium duty trucks. The company focuses on short-haul, B2B logistics for Fortune 500 retailers and in 2021 launched the world’s first fully driverless commercial delivery service with Walmart. Gatik’s class 3-6 autonomous box trucks are commercially deployed in multiple markets including Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana and Ontario. Gatik is backed by Koch Disruptive Technologies, Innovation Endeavors, Wittington Ventures and others, and partners with industry leaders including Ryder, Goodyear and Isuzu. Founded in 2017 by veterans of the autonomous technology industry, the company has offices in Mountain View and Toronto. For more information on Gatik, visit www.gatik.ai and follow the company on Twitter, LinkedIn and Medium.
