Walmart has revealed it is using fully driverless trucks to bring groceries from a fulfillment center to one of its Arkansas supermarkets, in a move that will cut costs and address the ongoing labor shortage affecting retail supply chains.
Twelve hours a day, apair of trucks are running on a seven-mile loop of public roads from a fulfillment center to the Walmart on Regional Airport Boulevard in Bentonville, Arkansas, where the mega-retailer is headquartered.
From there customers can conveniently pick up their orders.
Walmart started driverless deliveries in August using autonomous trucks from Palo Alto, California-based start-up Gatik, but waited to make the announcement until Monday, after two months of incident-free deliveries.
The trucking industry has faced a record worker shortage since the pandemic started, Chris Spear, president of the American Trucking Associations, told CNN, with 80,000 drivers still needed.
Middle- and last-mile deliveries — from warehouses to stores, or stores to homes — have also been impacted. Even's Amazon's one-day delivery pledge for Prime members has faltered.
After receiving approval from the Arkansas State Highway Commission in December 2020, Gatik's trucks started making deliveries on the 'middle mile' of the supply chain — between 'dark stores,' which have been shut down and turned into fulfillment centers, and operational supermarkets.
After racking up 70,000 operational miles, two months ago it finally took off the training wheels and removed the safety driver.
This represents the first time that an autonomous trucking company has removed the human driver from a commercial delivery route on the middle mile anywhere in the world, according to a joint release from Walmart and Gatik.
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Walmart began using autonomous box trucks from Gatik in December 2020 and, after 70,000 operational miles, removed the safety driver in August
'Taking the driver out is the holy grail of this technology.' Gatik CEO Gautam Narang told CNBC. 'Having the trust from the world's largest retailer has been a massive boost for what we do and is a validation for our technology, our solution, our progress.'
Tom Ward, senior vice president of consumer product at Walmart U.S., said in the release that autonomous box trucks 'offer an efficient, safe and sustainable solution for transporting goods on repeatable routes between our stores.'
'We're thrilled to be working with Gatik to achieve this industry-first, driverless milestone in our home state of Arkansas and look forward to continuing to use this technology to serve Walmart customers with speed.'
The companies are partnering on a similar program with a 20-mile route in Louisiana between Metairie and New Orleans, Walmart announced in December, but that system still utilizes safety drivers.
According to Walmart, 90 percent of Americans live within 10 miles of a Walmart, so opening 'a closer store isn't always the answer' to customers' needs.
A pair of trucks operate on a seven-mile loop of public roads, 12 hours a day, from a fulfillment center to the Walmart on Regional Airport Boulevard, in the company's hometown of Bentonville, Arkansas. From there, customers can
