PepsiCo expands autonomous trucking across North America as it seeks additional logistics capacity across its food and beverage supply chain.
PepsiCo has signed a multi-year agreement with autonomous trucking company Gatik to expand the use of self-driving freight vehicles across its North American supply chain.
The companies said the deal represents the largest commercial autonomous freight deployment to date. Gatik already operates routes for PepsiCo in Texas, Arizona and Arkansas, transporting products across regional distribution networks.
The agreement comes as food and beverage manufacturers continue to explore new ways to improve logistics efficiency, address driver shortages and increase transportation capacity. According to Gatik, its autonomous operations for PepsiCo currently achieve more than 98 percent on-time delivery performance.
“Serving our vast network of customers requires a supply chain that is safe, reliable, and built for the future,” said Jim Farrell, Senior Vice President of Supply Chain, PepsiCo. “Gatik is already operating inside our networks and brings the autonomous freight technology, commercial experience, and scale we need to strengthen service, add capacity, and move products more consistently for our customers.”
Autonomous freight expands in regional networks
The partnership centres on PepsiCo’s regional transportation network, where products move between manufacturing, warehousing and distribution facilities on a daily basis.
Serving our vast network of customers requires a supply chain that is safe, reliable, and built for the future.”
Jim Farrell, Senior Vice President of Supply Chain, PepsiCo
Gatik’s autonomous trucks operate on highways and local roads and can support changing delivery schedules across multiple collection and drop-off points. The technology allows routes to be adjusted in response to operational requirements, including fluctuations in demand and activity levels at distribution centres.
PepsiCo first began working with Gatik in 2022. The latest agreement expands that relationship and increases the role of autonomous freight within day-to-day supply chain operations.
Gautam Narang, CEO and Co-Founder of Gatik, added: “Autonomous trucking has reached commercial scale when it operates inside one of the most demanding supply chains on the planet. That is what Gatik is doing with PepsiCo. Our autonomous trucks are already moving products every day across Texas, Arizona, and Arkansas, and this partnership is proof that Gatik is becoming central to how the world’s largest companies move goods.”
PepsiCo said it intends to use autonomous freight to add capacity on high-demand regional routes where recruitment can be challenging, while continuing to invest in its existing workforce.
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