The CEO and Co-Founder of Gatik, Gautam Narang, will take the stage as an industry keynote speaker on May 10, the second day of the Future of Supply Chain.
Narang will provide insights regarding the impacts of self-driving retail delivery vehicles on the industry and economy. The innovation and integration of autonomous vehicles on regular, daily routes are not the latest fad; they are the cusp of a new industry standard for enterprise fleets and beyond.
According to Craig Fuller, founder and CEO of FreightWaves, “We are excited to have Gautam as a keynote speaker. Gatik is one of the companies pioneering self-driving retail delivery vehicles, and I know he’ll provide attendees with critical information and insight.”
Prior to co-founding Gatik, Narang garnered more than a decade of experience in robotics, leading multiple high-profile teams building diverse robotic systems – from moon rovers and self-driving cars to off-road autonomous vehicles and bomb-disposal robots. His experience in robotics and artificial intelligence was earned at CNRS, NREC, Honda R&D, and Waseda University. He holds a Master’s degree in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon University.
Middle-mile autonomous logistics
Gatik is the leading enterprise in autonomous middle-mile logistics. It delivers goods safely and efficiently using its fleet of light- and medium-duty trucks. The company’s focus is on short-haul, B2B logistics for Fortune 500 retailers such as Walmart and Loblaw.
Middle-mile logistics are defined as the intra-state commercial movement of goods, in a B2B capacity, between two or more fixed points on fixed, repeatable routes. This constrained and measured approach to autonomous delivery offers significant benefits including: improved safety by reducing the number of road incidents caused by distracted, inattentive or impaired driving; establishing reliability across the supply chain’s middle mile by protecting against driver shortages, securing dedicated capacity and increasing product flow; and reduced emissions, as well as meeting sustainability goals by improving fuel economics and reducing service and maintenance requirements.
Gatik is redefining the B2B short-haul logistics segment, moving goods from micro-fulfilment centers and dark stores in urban environments to pick-up points such as brick-and-mortar retail stores and distribution centers. The company enables its customers to optimize their hub-and-spoke operations, as well as to enhance inventory pooling across multiple locations, reduce labor costs and meet the expectation for contactless delivery.
Gatik’s Class 3 to Class 6 autonomous box trucks are commercially deployed in multiple markets including Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas in the United States, and in the province of Ontario in Canada. Since it began commercial operations, Gatik has achieved a 100% safety record across each operational site. In August 2021, Gatik launched the world’s first fully driverless commercial delivery service for Walmart in Bentonville, Arkansas.
Gatik overview
Founded in 2017 by veterans of the autonomous technology industry, Gatik has offices in Mountain View, California, and Toronto. The company’s mission and focus is to “deliver goods safely and efficiently using autonomous vehicles.” Gatik’s focus enables its customers to affordably optimize their supply chains.
Gatik has raised over $114.5 million and is backed by Koch Disruptive Technologies, Innovation Endeavors, Wittington Ventures and others. It has also partnered with industry leaders including Ryder, Goodyear and Isuzu. Among its achievements, Gatik was recognized on the 2021 Forbes AI 50 list and as a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer.
Future of Supply Chain overview
FreightWaves is hosting an all-new freight experience that will bring together many of the greatest minds in the transportation, logistics and supply chain industries to share insights, predict future trends and showcase emerging technology at The Future of Supply Chain.
The event will take place on May 9-10, 2022, at the Rogers Convention Center in northwest Arkansas. It will include exclusive VIP experiences, rapid-fire demos, interactive sponsor kiosks and engaging discussions about the key factors impacting the supply chain. Attendees will learn how companies are digitally transforming the management of their supply chains, and explore the latest technology, newest applications, trends in education and continuing evolution of the overall supply chain.
For further information on the Future of Supply Chain, follow this link.