Gatik, Cummins to Integrate Technologies on Autonomous Delivery Trucks

Gatik and Cummins will collaborate to integrate Gatik’s autonomous driving system with Cummins’ advanced powertrain solution, working to improve the performance, safety and fuel efficiency of Gatik’s medium-duty delivery trucks.

These trucks are designed to serve customers’ needs for autonomous middle-mile logistics, the companies said in a Tuesday (Aug. 23) press release, running short-haul, B2B delivery routes.

“As we commercialize our product offerings at scale across North America, ensuring that we integrate our technology with the world’s leading Tier 1 companies is critical to meeting intensifying demand for our solution safely and quickly,” Gatik Chief Technology Officer and co-founder Arjun Narang said in the release.

In 2021, Gatik launched a fully driverless commercial delivery service with Walmart. The retailer said in November 2021 that Gatik had been moving customer orders daily without a safety driver on a route in Bentonville, Arkansas, and that this was the first such middle-mile delivery anywhere in the world.

Read more: Walmart Marks Milestone With Fully Driverless Deliveries

In the collaboration between Gatik and Cummins, the two companies will work closely to integrate their solutions in vehicles, according to the release.

“Cummins powers nearly every type of application globally, so integrating our powertrain with automated driving systems like Gatik’s will allow our customers to choose the newest technologies to meet their needs,” said Michael Taylor, general manager, global powertrain integration at Cummins.

Middle-mile service has been changing rapidly, as Gatik CEO and co-founder Gautam Narang told PYMNTS in an interview last year.

See also: Demand for Next-Day Delivery Drives Need for Efficient Logistics

Because consumers want same-day delivery, retailers build micro distribution centers or micro fulfillment centers close to the end consumer and have trucks running more frequently between hub locations and multiple spoke locations — creating the need for more trips, more drivers and more trucks, Narang said.

“And that’s where we come in,” Narang said. “An autonomous solution like ours can help these retailers operate and scale this service right away.”

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