PepsiCo and autonomous trucking company Gatik have launched what the companies describe as the largest commercial deployment of fully driverless freight trucks in the United States, marking a significant milestone for autonomous transportation technology.
The multi-year partnership has placed 41 autonomous medium-duty Isuzu box trucks into operation across Texas, Arizona and Arkansas. The vehicles transport PepsiCo products, including Frito-Lay snacks, Pepsi beverages and Gatorade, between distribution centers, bottling facilities and retail locations.
According to the companies, the trucks have been operating without safety drivers or onboard observers since June 2025. The fleet currently serves approximately 250 retail locations, including Walmart and Dollar General stores, traveling on both highways and surface streets.
“Serving our vast network of customers requires a supply chain that is safe, reliable and built for the future,” said Jim Farrell, senior vice president of supply chain at PepsiCo, according to FreightWaves. “Gatik is already operating inside our networks and brings the autonomous freight technology, commercial experience and scale we need to strengthen service, add capacity and move products more consistently for our customers.”
The deployment represents one of the largest autonomous freight operations currently active in the United States. PepsiCo reported that the fleet has recorded no accidents and maintains a 99% on-time performance rate after accounting for traffic and weather conditions.
The trucks primarily operate on fixed, short-haul routes connecting manufacturing facilities, distribution centers and retail stores. Company officials said those predictable routes are particularly well-suited for autonomous technology while allowing human drivers to focus on other transportation needs.
Gatik Chief Executive Officer and co-founder Gautam Narang said the deployment demonstrates that autonomous trucking has progressed beyond the pilot phase and into large-scale commercial use.
“Driverless trucks deployed in commercial capacity, driving across highways and surface streets — that’s what we’re doing with PepsiCo,” Narang said, according to FreightWaves. “The fact that they’re adopting this in very complex supply chains is one of the proof points that autonomous trucking is mainstream.”
Unlike many autonomous vehicle programs that continue to rely on onboard safety operators, Gatik’s trucks operate without a driver or observer in the cab. The company instead uses remote supervisors who oversee multiple vehicles and make high-level operational decisions, though they do not remotely drive the trucks.
“To my understanding, in the trucking space we are the only company that can make that claim today — without a driver and without an observer,” Narang said.
PepsiCo and Gatik emphasized that the deployment is intended to expand transportation capacity rather than replace workers. PepsiCo cited ongoing challenges in recruiting and retaining qualified drivers for regional freight operations.
“Autonomous trucking has reached commercial scale when it operates inside one of the most demanding supply chains on the planet,” Narang said. “That is what Gatik is doing with PepsiCo.”
The companies plan to significantly expand operations in the coming years. Gatik, Isuzu Motors and Nvidia are developing a South Carolina production facility expected to begin manufacturing Level 4 autonomous trucks in the second half of 2027.
“The volumes that we’re looking at for this year are in the hundreds of trucks,” Narang said. “Once the Isuzu facility is up and running and we have our vehicles coming off the production line, the volumes that we’re looking at are tens of thousands of trucks.”
The rollout comes as autonomous vehicle technology gains traction across the transportation industry, while also drawing scrutiny from labor groups that continue to advocate for human operators in commercial autonomous vehicles. For now, PepsiCo’s driverless fleet stands as a prominent example of autonomous technology moving from testing environments into daily commercial operations.
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