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Five autonomous vehicles will operate on five routes on public roads seven days a week.

Beginning in January, Gatik will transport goods from its automated picking facility to Loblaw’s retail locations across the Greater Toronto Area. PHOTO BY GATIK

Gatik, a Silicon Valley-based self-driving startup, announced a partnership with Loblaw Companies Limited Monday to deploy a fleet of autonomous delivery vehicles in Toronto.

Beginning in January, Gatik will transport goods from its automated picking facility to Loblaw’s retail locations across the Greater Toronto Area. Five self-driving vehicles will operate on five fixed routes on public roads seven days a week, 12 hours a day, with fixed pick-up and drop-off locations.

All vehicles will have a human safety driver as a co-pilot.

The announcement follows a successful 10-month on-road pilot of the service in Toronto, using one vehicle. Gatik has completed more than 30,000 autonomous orders for multiple customers across North America, including Walmart.

“As more Canadians turn to online grocery shopping, we’ve looked at ways to make our supply chain more efficient. Middle-mile autonomous delivery is a great example,” said Lauren Steinberg, senior vice president of Loblaw Digital.

“With this initial roll-out in Toronto, we are able to move goods from our automated picking facility multiple times a day to keep pace with PC Express online grocery orders in stores around the city.”

Gatik has been moving merchandise from Walmart’s Arkansas distribution centers to stores for about 16 months.

With files from Kyle Stock, Bloomberg