Gatik Raises $200 Million as Autonomous Trucking Startup Pushes to Scale Commercial Operations

Gatik, the autonomous vehicle startup best known for its driverless box trucks, has closed a $200 million funding round led by Qatar Investment Authority and Koch Disruptive Technologies, as the company moves to expand what it describes as a commercial operation rather than a research and development effort.

The round, Gatik's largest to date, also drew participation from Millennium Management, ARK Invest, and Intact Private Capital, according to TechCrunch, which first reported the deal.

Gatik's driverless box trucks currently haul freight from distribution centers to retail stores, including Walmart locations. The company has operated commercially for several years — a distinction that sets it apart from many autonomous vehicle competitors that have struggled to cross from testing into sustained revenue-generating service.

Alongside the funding, a multiyear commercial agreement with PepsiCo, signed in June, forms part of $600 million in contracted revenue. That contract may prove to be the more consequential development, signaling that major consumer goods companies are willing to commit long-term to autonomous middle-mile logistics.

The raise comes amid renewed investor interest in autonomous trucking, a sector that saw several high-profile failures during the early 2020s hype cycle. Gatik's survival and transition into a commercial operator stands as a marker of how the competitive landscape has thinned.

The new capital is expected to fund scaling of Gatik's fleet and operations, though the company has not publicly detailed the specific deployment timeline or target markets.

Separately, the autonomous vehicle industry is contending with a less visible challenge. Test drivers at Waymo and Zoox sustained more than two dozen injuries in 2024 and 2025 from sudden braking and other abrupt maneuvers made by the autonomous vehicles they were monitoring, according to data submitted to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. In some cases, workers were sidelined for months after injuries including whiplash.

OSHA reporting requirements do not apply to all autonomous vehicle developers, meaning the number of such injuries across the industry is likely undercounted.

Proponents of autonomous vehicle technology have long argued that self-driving systems will reduce crash rates overall. The OSHA data adds a layer of complexity to that argument, underscoring that the transition period — when human monitors ride alongside software-controlled vehicles — carries its own occupational risks.

Waymo, meanwhile, separately announced plans to launch its robotaxi service in Munich, Germany, and published 10 lessons drawn from more than 200 million autonomous miles driven. Among the findings, the company emphasized that multimodal sensors are indispensable — a position that stands in direct contrast to Tesla's camera-only approach.

For Gatik and the broader autonomous logistics sector, the path forward will depend not only on securing commercial contracts but on demonstrating that the technology can operate safely and reliably at scale, for both the freight it carries and the people who work alongside it.

Disclaimer