I love Toronto – for personal, sentimental reasons… But I hate the stale air. The crowds. And most of all, the traffic. Now I can also hate – and fear – Toronto’s streets: Loblaw’s has rolled out self-driving, AI-controlled trucks!
They’re not just testing on a limited scale, on back roads, either. Loblaw’s and its AI Autonomous Trucks partner Gatik are preparing to roll out a 5-year expansion of self-driving delivery vehicle service across the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).
Freaks me out
I have to admit, I’m just too stuck in my ancient rut to ever accept that ‘autonomous vehicles’ are, or ever will be, safe. And I don’t want to share the streets with them. Just the thought of looking over into the next lane and seeing an empty truck cab – or worse yet, one with no windows at all – would freak me out.
So I won’t be hurrying back to tread the ‘auld sod’ of my childhood in Mississauga (the south-western extent of the GTA) anytime soon.
Disasters notwithstanding…
In spite of myriad cases of faulty navigation or control systems in self-driving vehicles causing acci-dents, traffic jams and even human injuries, the folks behind them won’t abandon the idea. They’ve got too much invested in the concept of autonomous vehicles to call it a bad idea and just walk away.
Science Fiction writers were warning more than 50 years ago about the dangers of AI. For almost as long, film makers have been sharing dystopian visions of what could happen when ‘AI That Became Self-Aware Made Made Humankind Very Sorry‘.
What they’re doing
Loblaw’s and Gatik have more than partnered on self-driving vehicles. According to the official news release, Canada’s largest food retailer has in fact made what it calls a strategic investment in the emerging AI leader.
Accordingly… “Under the initial phase of the expansion, 20 autonomous trucks equipped with Gatik’s next-generation sensor suite will be deployed by the end of 2025, with a further 30 autonomous trucks to be deployed by the end of 2026, creating a scalable platform for future growth phases.”
Gautam Narang, CEO and co-founder of Gatik, says: “It’s the first time a major retailer has transit-ioned from pilot to commercial scale with autonomous trucks, directly addressing Canada’s growing driver shortage, delivering the true benefits of autonomous logistics – reliability, safety and scal-ability – to millions of Canadians.
“Loblaw’s investment is a powerful endorsement of our market-leading […] technology that has log-ged extensive miles on public roads while maintaining an exemplary safety record,” Narang adds, “and underscores our commitment to revolutionizing regional distribution through intelligent, auto-nomous solutions.”
Pepsi echoing Loblaw’s in the US
In what may or may not be a coincidence, PepsiCo has announced it’s expanding it’s AI-driven truck program in the US.
Pepsi, too, has placed its faith in Gatik’s AI technology. In fact, the fizzy bev and snack giant has been testing a fleet of 22 autonomous delivery vehicles since 2022, and currently operates a fleet of 41 autonomous trucks deployed across Texas, Arizona and Arkansas.
“The partnership is focused on PepsiCo’s regional transportation networks, where products move daily from site to site,” Pepsi explains. “These networks are high-frequency, time-sensitive, and es-sential to keeping products flowing consistently.”
In other words, they’re automating the delivery trucks that bring cans, bottles, restaurant dispenser supplies, and Frito-Lay snack products to end users and retailers all over their assigned service areas. You could run into one anywhere you go in your daily travels. (Sorry about that unintended pun in the previous sentence. But I’m leaving it in…)
My take
Loblaw’s and Gatik are going boldly where many would rather they didn’t, scattering even more self-driving trucks across the highways of the nation. And this won’t be the end of it, either. I can see a day, in the not too distant future, when ‘Truck Driver’ becomes extinct as a job description. And I can also see the malfunctions and accidents AI-driven trucks trigger continuing to mount.
Corporations call this kind of thing ‘a cost of doing business’. Army commanders call a certain per-centage of deaths in war ‘acceptable losses’. Politicians call 4 percent joblessness ‘full employment’.
I call it BS! And I just hope I don’t become a victim of an ‘autonomous vehicle’ gone wrong…
~ Maggie J.