The Toronto of the future is apparently going to be full of all types of wacky new vehicles, from entire grocery stores on wheels to self-driving transit shuttles to adorably tiny mail delivery vehicles.
Among them will be trucks that will be able to transport groceries without the aid of a human being behind the wheel.
The self-driving automobiles, developed by AI company Gatik, have just been endorsed by the Ontario government to the tune of $997,000 to be invested into further research and development.
Gatik, which has offices in California and Toronto, has already been testing the autonomous trucks out in the GTA through a multi-year partnership with Loblaw Companies in which the vehicles have been moving products from distribution centres to retail locations via normal public roads.
💚 technology but ❤️ safety first. We wonder how this would perform in our shifting weather conditions. pic.twitter.com/5A7QiBU3m9
— eatingyyz (@eatingyyz) November 24, 2020
The technology is definitely suited for the COVID world given that it is being touted as a safe, reliable, efficient and, most importantly, contactless solution for moving goods around.
It is also the first of its kind in the country, though Gatik has already been delivering groceries for giants like Walmart south of the border.
The months-long pilot in Toronto, though, has been extremely helpful in understanding particularly Canadian problems that the company may not have worked with before, being from sunny California and all.
"The operational experience and data gathered in Ontario gives us a strong understanding of how inclement weather affects our vehicles' movements," Gatik's CEO said in a press release this week.
The investment from the province will help them, in part, to equip their vehicles for driving in Toronto winters.
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