Raphael ThysThe driverless trucks will still have an operator behind the wheel.
Ikea is the latest retailer to test driverless delivery using autonomous semitrucks in partnership with startup Kodiak Robotics.
The furniture giant has launched a pilot program with a 300-mile daily route from a distribution center near Houston, Texas to a store in a suburb of Dallas, tapping a system of freight paths that Kodiak has been developing in the state since 2019.
The trial run follows the lead of retailers like Walmart, its bulk subsidiary Sam’s Club and Canadian grocer Loblaws, which have been testing the viability of driverless truck shipping over the past several months.
An Ikea spokesperson said the goal of the tests is to determine how such technology might increase road safety and working conditions for long-distance drivers. Each truck will have a safety driver in the cab to manually handle the pickup from the distribution center each morning and the drop-off at the store in late afternoon. The route is slated to run seven days a week.
Dariusz Mroczek, category area transport manager of Ikea supply chain operations, said the goal is not to phase out human truck drivers but to increase road safety and better handle the taxing long-distance hauls between the loading and unloading processes.
“Kodiak’s technology will contribute toward our objective to put the driver in focus in the transition toward automated transportation and our road safety agenda,” Mroczek said.
The company also cited a University of California San Diego study from 2019 that found driverless trucks can cut fuel consumption by up to 10% as compared to manually driven diesel truck fleets.
Kodiak founder and CEO Don Burnette also said his startup focuses on less desirable routes and jobs for truckers. The startup recently added routes from Dallas to Oklahoma City and Atlanta to complement its existing paths between major Texas cities.
“Together [with Ikea], we can enhance safety, improve working conditions for drivers and create a more sustainable freight transportation system,” Burnette said. “Adopting autonomous trucking technology can improve drivers’ quality of life by focusing on the local driving jobs most prefer to do.”
Nevertheless, Walmart recently became the first retailer to cut human drivers out of the equation entirely with a 7-mile continuous loop route between a distribution center and a store near the company’s Bentonville, Ark. headquarters in partnership with a startup called Gatik.