Isuzu North America Corporation, Gatik Form Strategic Collaboration

Tue April 06, 2021
Isuzu

Isuzu North America Corporation and Gatik have agreed to collaborate on a project to develop and evaluate fully autonomous medium-duty trucks.

Isuzu is a market leader in low cab forward (LCF) trucks in the U.S. and Canadian markets. Gatik is an industry leader in automating on-road transportation networks for B2B middle-mile logistics.

This collaboration is an industry first in the medium-duty category and will accelerate the commercialization of autonomous delivery fleets while contributing to a safer and more sustainable logistics community in the future, according to the companies.

The collaboration will integrate Gatik's autonomous driving technology into several Isuzu medium-duty N-Series trucks to produce SAE Level 4 delivery vehicles with redundant systems. The first vehicles will be deployed this year due to the cooperative efforts of Gatik's and Isuzu's engineering teams.

"By bringing these two teams together, we can create segment-changing technology while positioning Gatik to safely commercialize autonomous delivery technology at scale," said Gatik's CEO and Co-Founder Gautam Narang.

"Isuzu N-Series trucks have been best-sellers in their class in the combined U.S.-Canadian market for 35 consecutive years, making them an ideal fit for our solution. We are excited to combine our industry-leading expertise and bring a long-term, sustainable solution to the supply chain."

"As customer requirements for the medium-duty product evolve at an increasingly rapid pace, having the ability to collaborate with Gatik, an industry leader in autonomous technology is very exciting for our team," said Takashi Sadaoka, president and CEO of Isuzu North America Corporation.

Rapidly increasing e-commerce sales and a well-documented driver shortage have caused businesses to struggle to meet the expectations of on-demand goods movement. This effort will combine Gatik's autonomous driving software and operational expertise with Isuzu's award-winning truck platform to address these critical industry pain points, ensuring retailers can maintain capacity, lower operating costs and keep delivery times short.

About Gatik

Gatik was founded in 2017 by veterans of the autonomous technology industry and has established offices in Palo Alto and Toronto. The company's mission is to deliver goods safely and efficiently using autonomous vehicles. With its fleet of light to medium duty trucks, Gatik is leading the way in autonomous middle mile delivery. The company focuses on short-haul, B2B logistics for Fortune 500 retailers such as Walmart and Loblaw. Gatik enables its customers to optimize their hub-and-spoke supply chain operations, enhance inventory pooling across multiple locations, reduce labor costs and meet an unprecedented demand for contactless delivery.