Hillwood
AllianceTexas continues to build its autonomous transportation network, adding an operations center for Gatik, the Palo Alto, Caiif-based autonomous delivery trucking company that specializes in the “middle mile:” the transportation of goods from port to fulfillment center.
“The expansion (to AllianceTexas’ Mobility Innovation Zone) will create 500 jobs in Fort Worth by 2025 and enable customers to take advantage of reduced supply chain costs, operational efficiencies and shorter delivery times on the middle mile,” Hillwood, the AllianceTexas developer, said.
The new facility serves as Gatik’s operations hub in Texas. The company said it raised $85 million in Series B funding, led by Koch Disruptive Technologies, which it will use to scale up its fleet of Class 3-6 Autonomous Box Trucks across new markets in North America.
Gatik was already running autonomous trucks between distribution centers and two grocery stores in Dallas, and has a third to begin soon, Russell Laughlin, executive vice president of Hillwood, said in an interview. The trucks are considered Level 4 fully autonomous, but a “safety driver” is aboard, Laughlin said.
Gatik is running fully autonomous deliveries in Bentonville, Ark., and New Orleans where the company has already removed the safety drivers, Laughlin said.
“You’re running them long enough to where you’ve already built up the data,” he said.
AllianceTexas already hosts a number of leading logistics companies in autonomous transportation. The COVID-19 pandemic and its disruptions to logistics have led to an acceleration in the development of autonomous transportation at Hillwood and AllianceTexas.
“You’ve got just about every top mobility innovation company that’s setting up operations here,” Laughlin said. “We’re just scaling it right now.”
Gatik’s new job creation is expected to include operational, technical and business roles. “Gatik’s medium duty trucks operate over twenty hours a day, seven days a week in Texas’ high-density market, which is ideally suited for goods movement in a multi-tenancy capacity,” Hillwood said. “This enables Gatik to increase vehicle utilization and further maximize profit margins and supply chain efficiency for multiple customers.”
Texas is the fourth market in North America in which the company has deployed its Autonomous Box Trucks for retail customers, following the success of its operations in Arkansas and Louisiana with Walmart, and Ontario, Canada with Loblaw Companies Limited, Hillwood said. Gatik has deployed 20 foot and 26 foot multi-temperature Autonomous Box Trucks.
“Dallas-Fort Worth is internationally recognized as one of the world’s leading logistics centers in terms of innovation, sophisticated infrastructure and a highly-skilled workforce,” Gautam Narang, CEO and co-founder of Gatik, said in a release.
“Combined with a dense customer base, a progressive and well-structured regulatory environment, and an ideal climate; bringing the advantages of our middle mile solution to customers in the Texas ecosystem was a very natural next step for us.”
“Gatik is the perfect partner for Hillwood in our efforts to accelerate emerging mobility technologies within the MIZ,” Ross Perot, Jr., chairman of Hillwood, said in the release. “As Gatik leads the way in autonomous middle mile delivery, their commitment to the MIZ will continue to position AllianceTexas as a global focal point in the commercialization of budding logistics solutions.”