Autonomous Trucks
Kroger, headquartered in Cincinnati, has struck a multiyear deal with Gatik to use that Mountain View, California-based company's autonomous box trucks to bring customer orders to multiple Kroger retail locations from its Dallas fulfillment center. Companies such as Amazon, Walmart as well as Kroger have opened robotic distribution centers, in large part to help handle online orders and same-day or next-day deliveries. Gatik, which also counts Walmart as a customer, and Kroger didn't immediately respond to emails asking how many Dallas stores will be getting deliveries from the self-driving trucks. To serve Kroger, Gatik said it will be using its medium-duty self-driving box trucks, which can transport ambient, refrigerated and frozen goods. Right now two dozen states allow the commercial operation of intrastate autonomous trucks, and many states permit the testing of self-driving trucks that have a human backup driver on board.