Story at a glance

• Autonomous vehicle startup Gatik announced a commercial partnership to deliver paper goods to 34 Sam’s Club locations in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

• Deliveries will begin in July.

• Over the past several years, there’s been an emergence of start-ups looking to implement full-scale autonomous trucking operations on American roads, with pilot programs in Texas, Florida and Arizona.

A fleet of driverless box trucks will soon begin delivering paper goods such as Dixie cups and toilet paper to dozens of Sam’s Club stores in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, a significant stride toward making driverless technology a reality on U.S. roads.

Autonomous vehicle startup Gatik on Tuesday announced a commercial partnership with Georgia Pacific, a manufacturer and distributor of tissue, pulp and paper-based packaging, as well as KBX, the transportation arm for Koch Industries, to deliver goods around the clock across a network of 34 Sam’s Club locations starting in July.

The operation involves utilizing 26-foot trailers that are categorized as Class 6 vehicles, which are significantly smaller than the Class 8 trucks that currently handle the deliveries. Gatik said replacing traditional tractor trailers with driverless box trucks will reduce logistics costs and enable “near real-time inventory fulfillment.”

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“We are looking forward to testing this transformational technology to deliver Georgia-Pacific brands like Quilted Northern bath tissue and Dixie products to Sam’s Clubs,” Hayes Shimp, vice president of sales for Georgia-Pacific, said in a statement.

“Once proven, we believe autonomous deliveries will enable us to remove cost and complexity from the supply chain so that we can better serve Sam’s Club, and their members,” Shimp added.

Over the past several years, there’s been an emergence of start-ups looking to implement full-scale autonomous trucking operations on American roads, with pilot programs in Texas, Florida and Arizona, where welcoming weather makes the region an ideal testing ground.

Alphabet’s self-driving truck venture Waymo Via earlier this year announced a partnership with truck fleet operator C.H. Robinson — which has a network of nearly 200,000 shippers and carriers and data on more than 3 million trucking routes — to deliver freight between Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston using autonomous trucks.

Companies looking to bring driverless freight into fruition hope the technology could remedy a host of problems the trucking industry is facing, including driver shortages, fuel price volatility and performance limitations. Proponents also argue the tech would result in fewer accidents, traffic jams and less pollution.

But widespread adoption of autonomous trucks could come at a cost. One study found implementation of autonomous technology could do away with as many as 500,000 jobs.

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