• Gatik, an autonomous truck developer for middle-mile delivery, has entered into a multi-year partnership with fleet management solutions provider Ryder System (Ryder) to establish an autonomous B2B short-haul logistics network for Gatik’s customers in the US and Canada.

• As per the deal, the company will retrofit its autonomous driving technology into a fleet of medium-duty, multi-temperature box trucks leased from Ryder. Gatik will then utilize the trucks to provide autonomous delivery as a service (ADaaS) to its new and existing customers, starting from Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas.

• Ryder will also provide service and maintenance facilities including calibration of autonomous vehicle sensors and the necessary pre/post-trip inspections for the trucks. The two companies will also explore opportunities to allow Ryder to manage the logistics operations of Gatik’s truck fleet as well.

<ul><li>Today Ryder also mentioned that it took part in Gatik’s latest USD 85 million Series B funding round held in August via its corporate venture capital arm RyderVentures.</ul>

<ul><li> Analyst QuickTake: Several other autonomous trucking companies including Embark Trucks (in September), Waymo (in August), and TuSimple (in July) have also partnered with Ryder recently to launch maintenance and service facilities for their respective autonomous truck fleets. However, this is the first time Ryder invested in and agreed to lease its trucks for an autonomous trucking company.</ul>