A purple-and-white truck drove out of a suburban supermarket on a Wednesday night in August and drove seven miles to Loblaw Cos. Ltd’s headquarters. in Brampton, Ontario, just west of Toronto. Es a historic trip, according to the supermarket chain, as no one does it for the first time.
For about two and a half years, Loblaw has worked with Gatik Inc. , a Silicon Valley-based autonomous generation company, to manage a fleet of five driverless trucks guided by cameras, laser sensors and sonar.
Sign up for the most productive stories from Financial Post, a department of Postmedia Network Inc.
A welcome email is on the way. If you don’t see it, please check your spam folder.
The next Financial Post Top Stories factor will soon be in your inbox.
We found a challenge in your registration. Revisit
During that time, the trucks made 150,000 trips for protection issues or accidents, picking up grocery orders online at a distribution center and dropping them off for consumers at a handful of pickup locations in the Toronto area.
But until that August night, trucks had a human behind the wheel who could take control of the vehicle at any time.
Now, all trucks drive around Toronto, 12 hours a day, with the driver’s seat empty, which Loblaw says is a first for self-driving ad-delivery cars in Canada.
The hope is that over the next year, the trucks will run without humans inside, making Loblaw’s e-commerce deliveries more effective and less dependent on an increasingly limited workforce. the quarter of the moment, more than 50% year after year.
But for the next few months, trucks will continue to drive with a protective motive force in the passenger seat as a precaution, alongside a red tangerine-sized button known as an emergency stop, or the “stop button. “
Gatik’s chief executive, Gautam Narang, said the human in the passenger seat was not necessary, but was only a courtesy to local emergency services.
“They were looking to interact, in case the vehicle stopped,” he said.
But trucks have speakers for this, so Gatik can talk remotely to police or other drivers in the event of an accident. It is not legally required to have a user in the truck in Ontario, as the provincial government runs a pilot program that allows certain autonomous cars to operate without a driver.
Gatik operates trucks for Walmart Inc. in Arkansas with no one in the vehicle.
Driver suppression is the holy grail in our industry
“The great news here is that we’re going to do publicity deliveries literally without needing a driving force,” Narang said. “Eliminating the driving force is the holy grail in our industry. “
Gatik charges Loblaw an annual fee, based on the number of trucks and consistent hourly usage. Narang did not disclose the price, but said he believes autonomous trucks will end up being 30 percent cheaper than regular trucks within five years.
The new fleet focuses on what’s known as the intermediate tier of logistics: moving online orders from a distribution center to retail stores and pickup locations, rather than long-distance trips transporting a manufacturer’s products to Loblaw’s larger distribution warehouses, or the so-called last mile. Home delivery.
Loblaw and Gatik chose the middle mile because the routes are short and predictable, so trucks can travel the same roads over and over again, gathering information about traffic patterns and weather that can help long-distance travel consultants.
David Markwell, director of analytics and generation of leaders at Loblaw, said the biggest merit of autonomous trucks is that they can make more common trips, 24 hours directly if needed, without having to stop the driver from taking a break.
“The purpose is to make it less expensive when the motive force goes out completely,” he said. “It’s not necessarily an opportunity to paint as much as the ability to make more common deliveries. “
Loblaw plans to keep someone on the trucks until at least “sometime next year,” Markwell said. The trucks carry the Loblaw logo and the supermarket chain needs to make sure the trucks don’t have problems.
“It’s a reputation issue,” he said. We need to make sure we feel comfortable. “
• Email: jedmiston@postmedia. com | Twitter: jakeedmiston
365 Bloor Street East, Toronto, ONTARIO M4W 3L4
© 2022 Financial Post, a department of Postmedia Network Inc. All rights reserved. Unauthorized dissemination, transmission or transmission is strictly prohibited.
This uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads) and allows us to analyze our traffic. Learn more about cookies here. By continuing to use our Array, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy.