Innovation Endeavors was founded on the thesis of the Super Evolution: that technological advances across data, computation, and engineering would converge and translate into significant, fast changes for the world. We’ve seen this firsthand.
But more importantly, this era of innovation is made possible by people: changemakers working to revolutionize computing infrastructure, engineering biology, climate, intelligent software, and the physical economy. This Super Evolution Leader series highlights the stories of these innovators and gives you a glimpse into how these entrepreneurs bring their work to light, what lessons they’ve learned along the way, and how they hope to change our world.
We hope their candid insights are helpful for anyone tackling meaningful problems and that their stories leave you feeling inspired.
The year is 2017. Excitement for autonomous vehicles has reached a fervor, and consumers and investors alike are envisioning a world of autonomous vehicles far and wide. A middle-mile delivery company, Gatik, has just been founded. The team begins working on a focused solution to tackle autonomous B2B short-haul logistics.
“We started the company with two criteria in mind. The first was to focus on an application that was near-term. We did not want to spend decades waiting for this technology to be commercialized. The second was that we had to solve real customer pain points. I did not want to build technology for technology’s sake,” said Gautam Narang, CEO and Co-founder of Gatik.
Meet Super Evolution driver Gautam Narang: CEO and Co-founder of Gatik
Gatik’s mission is to deliver goods safely and efficiently using autonomous vehicles. Unlike many of the other autonomous vehicle companies founded around the same time, Gatik decided to zero in on one prevalent need: autonomous middle-mile delivery. The company focuses on short-haul, B2B logistics for the retail industry, enabling its customers to optimize their supply chain conveniently and affordably.
“We noticed retailers and grocers were moving their fulfillment centers closer to the end consumer. Amazon has pampered us. If we place an order, we expect it to be delivered in a few hours the same day, or at the very least, the next day. Because of that, supply chains have shifted closer to us, and trips between distribution centers were getting shorter. All of a sudden, there was a huge demand for more trucks and more drivers,” said Gautam.
So, consumers have become accustomed to instant gratification and lightning-fast delivery. Meanwhile, the U.S. truck driver shortage has only increased, with NPR reporting that the trucking industry is estimated to have a shortage of nearly 80,000 drivers by the end of this year.
“Automation is the only right answer, right? We can help companies enable a shift towards hub and spoke by using autonomous trucks. We can operate these light and medium-duty trucks on the same routes, day in and day out, which allows us to get the driver out faster and safer than some of the other applications in the autonomous space. We believe that the future of logistics and transportation is autonomous and electric. So in a few years, we expect to have thousands of trucks without anyone on board. These are electric trucks moving goods from anywhere to everywhere,” said Gautam.
The team’s choice to focus on short-haul logistics has been wildly successful. Both Loblaw (Canada’s largest grocery retailer) and Walmart have deployed Gatik’s autonomous trucking fleet to improve delivery times for their North American customers.
Watch the video to learn more about Gautam, Gatik, and how autonomous delivery will improve safety and efficiency for retailers nationwide.
