Wal-Mart has made it clear that it will use fully autonomous trucks to conduct deliveries in Arkansas starting in 2021.
Wal-Mart worked with startup Gatik on the delivery experience for 18 months.
Next year, the two companies plan to take their partnership to the next level by removing the safety driver from independent trucks.
Gatik equipped several trucks with a variable-temperature box with sensors and software to enable self-driving.
Since last year, the trucks have been operating along a two-mile-long road between the store that stores the items and the nearby neighborhood store in Bentonville.
The vehicles have since travelled 70,000 miles in self-driving mode with the human driver for safety.
Next year, the two companies plan to begin integrating fully autonomous trucks into these deliveries.
The two companies plan to expand to a second location in Louisiana, where trucks with safety drivers begin delivering items directly from Walmart Supercenter to a location for picking up items.
Tom Ward, Senior Vice President of Customer Products at Wal-Mart, said: "Our experiences with Gatik are just two of the many user situations we experience with self-driving vehicles, and we are excited to continue learning how to integrate them into our delivery ecosystem.
Gautam Narang, Ceo and co-founder of Gatik, described its approach to self-driving hardware and software as radically different.
Gatik said: "We analyze the massive, homogenous deep neuronal networks into precise models whose intended function is limited to the highly defined and explainable task, and build base-based backup systems around them.
"We are able to improve our models by using significantly few data, creating mechanisms to maintain explanation, and ensuring the system's continued integrity for unmanned operations.
Wal-Mart is working with a range of diverse self-driving companies in their search for the best fit for the company's massive retail and delivery operations.
In addition to Gatik, the large company works with Waymo, Cruise, Nuro, Udelv, Baidu, Ford and Postmates.
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