Gatik and Isuzu North America Corp. have agreed to collaborate on a project to develop and evaluate fully autonomous medium-duty trucks, the companies announced on April 6. The collaboration will integrate Gatik’s autonomous driving technology into Isuzu medium-duty N-Series trucks to produce SAE Level 4 delivery vehicles with redundant systems. The first vehicles will be deployed this year.

This collaboration, cited as an industry first in the medium-duty category, is designed to accelerate the commercialization of autonomous delivery fleets and contribute to safer and more sustainable logistics community.

“Isuzu N-Series trucks have been best-sellers in their class in the combined U.S.-Canadian market for 35 consecutive years, making them an ideal fit for our solution,” said Gatik’s CEO and cofounder Gautam Narang in a statement. “We are excited to combine our industry-leading expertise and bring a long-term, sustainable solution to the supply chain.”

“As customer requirements for the medium duty product evolve at an increasingly rapid pace, having the ability to collaborate with Gatik, an industry leader in autonomous technology, is very exciting for our team” said Takashi Sadaoka, president and CEO of Isuzu North America Corporation.

Gatik is focused on automating on-road transportation networks for B2B middle-mile logistics. The company cited the increase in e-commerce sales and the driver shortage as catalysts for deployment of middle-mile autonomous solutions.

In February, Gatik deployed its first autonomous trucks on an electric powertrain for Walmart routes in New Orleans. The trucks are on Ford Transit 350 HD chassis. The electric powertrain is from Via Motors Inc.

In January, Gatik deployed a fleet of autonomous delivery vehicles in Toronto, Ontario for Loblaw, Canada’s largest food distributor, to transport multi-temperature goods.