California-based autonomous driving startup Gatik, which operates driverless trucks for Loblaw, is putting its technology into mass production at a South Carolina plant that makes trucks for Japan’s Isuzu Motors. It has an over US$200-million backlog in commercial orders, said CEO Gautam Narang. (The Logic)

Talking point: The company’s new generation of technology, which uses Nvidia’s autonomous driving chips, is setting it up to go from hundreds of fully driverless vehicles on the road to thousands, said Narang. Some of Gatik’s early trials with fully driverless vehicles in Ontario helped train its AI technology, and Narang said it will announce its expansion plans in Canada in the coming months. Gatik is one of many companies that is racing towards mass adoption of driverless vehicles this year. Tesla is aiming to launch its robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, in June, Waymo is expanding testing to 10 new cities, and Toronto-based Waabi is working with a Volvo factory in Virginia. Nvidia said in a recent earnings report that driverless cars sent its automotive revenue to record highs.