Autonomous delivery truck startup Gatik on Thursday said it will be putting its box trucks on the road in Kansas after state officials gave it and its partner and customer Walmart Inc the go-ahead.
Gatik's head of policy, Richard Steiner, told Reuters in an interview the company would be"getting our trucks on the road now" in Kansas, but declined to comment on whether they would be making deliveries for Walmart or any other customer. The Teamsters in a statement said the bill was rushed through, and that it allowed autonomous vehicles to operate"recklessly, risking the lives of our friends and neighbors, and upending the workforce as we know it."
Walmart already works with Gatik in Arkansas and Louisiana, where Gatik offers short-haul deliveries in box trucks. The companies last year removed safety drivers from a delivery route in Arkansas, running fully autonomous.