2022 In the Rear View Mirror: We Went The Distance

As 2022 draws to a close, it’s a natural time for reflection for Gatik, a leader in autonomous trucking in North America.

As we think about the past year, we’re deeply proud of the work we accomplished in delivering for our customers, for our communities and for our team.

Making a Difference for our Customers

We significantly expanded our commercial presence across North America and continued to innovate, partner and collaborate to ensure safe, timely and cost-effective autonomous deliveries for our customers.

We’re now delivering Georgia-Pacific brands like Quilted Northern® bath tissue and Dixie® products to a network of over 30 Sam’s Clubs locations in Dallas, Texas thanks to a partnership with Georgia-Pacific and KBX.

This marks the first time we deployed class 6 autonomous box trucks to disrupt short-haul logistics networks traditionally served by class 8 trucks. This shift enhances service levels and product flow, providing greater reliability, speed, and consistency to our customer. To underscore just how effective this partnership is, our operations will increase the number of Georgia-Pacific fulfillment runs to Sam’s Club locations from 1–2 days per week to 2–4 days per week. It’s a hyper-efficient, customer-centric model designed to reduce overstocked items, create more space for in-demand items and increase sales of available goods to Sam’s Club customers.

partnership with Pitney Bowes

We also announced a partnership with Pitney Bowes, in which our industry-leading autonomous fleet will transport high-priority shipments across a network of known, repeatable routes to accelerate delivery frequency — establishing a continuous, operational loop across the Pitney Bowes E-commerce logistics network in Dallas.

We significantly expanded our presence in autonomous trucking in North America and continued to innovate, partner, and collaborate to ensure safe, timely, and cost-effective deliveries. By reducing both cost and complexity, we’re enabling Pitney Bowes to better serve their clients. At a time when E-commerce sales are rising dramatically and traditional capacity is increasingly strained with assets and driver shortages.

Gatik and Pitney Bowes Partner to Deploy Autonomous
Trucks for Ecommerce Shipments in Dallas Market

Scaling our Solution

At Gatik, we know the importance of developing partnerships with the industry’s elite. These partnerships ensure we’re not only meeting the immediate needs of our customers, but putting the technical pieces of a national puzzle in place to scale our solution safely, and rapidly, across the country. In 2021 we announced a partnership with Isuzu to implement OEM-grade redundancies for our medium-duty trucks, a collaboration with Goodyear to equip our fleet with tire intelligence technology to improve stopping distances and monitor tire pressure in real time for enhanced safety, and established a strategic partnership with Ryder to leverage their national leasing, servicing and fleet maintenance expertise while ensuring we maintain direct customer relationships and remain asset light.

This year we announced our partnership with Cummins to integrate our autonomous driving system with Cummins’ advanced powertrain solution for our fleet of medium-duty trucks, and entered into a strategic partnership with ChargePoint to develop an electric ecosystem for autonomous vehicles designed to maximize sustainability, operational efficiency and economics for Gatik’s customers across North America.

Gatik and Cummins Integrate Gatik’s Autonomous Driving Technology
with Cummins’ Advanced Powertrain in Next-Generation Autonomous Fleet

Safety, Delivered

Safety is at the heart of everything we do at Gatik; it’s deeply entrenched across the fabric of the organization. We integrate safety into all facets of our business, from initial concept to commercial deployment. It spans every level of our technology, processes and operations, and resides deep in the cultural make-up of the company. That’s why we felt particularly proud of the results of an independent safety assessment  that experts conducted prior to launching the first ever fully driverless commercial operations in Canada with the nation’s leading food and pharmacy retailer, Loblaw Companies Limited.

We passed with flying colors. The analysis reported clear and comprehensive validation that Gatik’s fully driverless technology is acceptably safe to operate on public roads.

At a time when supply chain issues were soaring and vehicle accidents continued to rise, Gatik’s autonomous vehicles soldiered on. They safely and efficiently delivered the goods and products that so many depend on in communities across the country.

Gatik’s Unique Company Culture

With over 100 employees now, we’ve been hiring and scaling at a phenomenal pace to meet rising customer demands. Despite the brisk tempo that exists in any high-growth startup, we’ve created a positive culture. Respect, collaboration, and mutual support are not only prioritized — they are the norm.

We’ve also built highly effective best practices for how we work. As a result, our team members understand their role relative to the mission. We give them the space they need to be the best they can be. Our offices across North America — in California, Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Ontario — feel alive. They are brimming with some of the brightest minds in software engineering, hardware, fleet management, systems safety, and community engagement. We’re actively hiring across every department, so if you’re keen to contribute to our mission, check out our latest vacancies.

Delivering on the Promise of Autonomy

After being named a TIME Best Invention, a Fast Company World Changing Idea, a Forbes Best Startup Employer and a FreightWaves FreightTech 25 winner this year, among others, we are not resting on our laurels.

 2022 was big, but 2023 is going to be even bigger. By year-end, we will have hundreds of autonomous trucks on the road across North America. We will also announce several new segment-changing commercial partnerships, densify our presence in existing markets, and expand to new ones. In addition, we will expand our headcount to 250 employees across the US and Canada.

We’ve experienced quite a journey, and we’re thrilled that everyone is joining us for the ride.

We’ll see you next year — it’s going to be busy!