Inside Loblaw’s Autonomous Middle Mile Supply Chain with Rich Steiner, Vice President at Gatik

About this episode

Autonomous vehicles have long been promised as the future of logistics, but in this episode of The FEED powered by Loblaw, that future arrives decisively in Canada. Host Michael LeBlanc sits down with Rich Steiner, Vice President of Government Relations and Public Affairs at Gatik, to explore how Loblaw and Gatik are launching Canada’s first fully autonomous, commercial middle-mile delivery operation, moving goods between facilities across Ontario—safely, legally, and at scale.

Steiner outlines Gatik’s evolution from a Silicon Valley garage startup to a North American autonomous trucking leader, now operating hundreds of vehicles across multiple jurisdictions. Unlike long-haul autonomous trucking or last-mile consumer delivery, Gatik specializes in regional, middle-mile logistics—the critical but often invisible segment that connects distribution centres, micro-fulfillment hubs, and retail stores. This is where retailers feel the greatest operational strain, particularly in an era defined by on-demand consumer expectations, labour shortages, and supply-chain volatility.

A central theme of the conversation is safety by design. Steiner explains how Gatik’s autonomous driving system integrates LiDAR, radar, cameras, and GNSS to create 360-degree visibility—day or night, in snow, fog, or dust storms. The trucks operate with no blind spots, prioritize defensive driving strategies, and even reroute to avoid unprotected left turns when safer alternatives exist. This safety-first philosophy extends beyond the vehicle itself, encompassing rigorous simulation testing, phased deployment, and extensive collaboration with Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation.

The episode also dives into regulatory leadership, positioning Ontario as Canada’s most advanced jurisdiction for autonomous commercial vehicles. Under a new provincial framework launched in 2025, Gatik is deploying 50 autonomous trucks for Loblaw, representing the largest single autonomous trucking deployment in North America. Steiner discusses why harmonized regulations across provinces—and eventually across borders—will be essential to unlocking the next phase of scale.

From a retail perspective, the implications are profound. Autonomous middle-mile delivery improves reliability, reduces costs, enhances supply-chain resilience, and supports store-level inventory precision—especially during peak periods like the holiday season. Importantly, Steiner emphasizes that autonomy is not about replacing workers, but augmenting existing transportation networks to meet rising consumer demand.

About Your Host, Michael LeBlanc

Michael is the president and founder of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc, a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and now, media entrepreneur. He has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career.

Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions and participated worldwide in thought leadership panels, most recently in Toronto, Austin, Texas & Savannah, Georgia. He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi's, Black & Decker, Hudson's Bay, CanWest Media, Pandora Jewellery, The Shopping Channel and Retail Council of Canada to his advisory, speaking and media practice.

Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including the award winning, top independent retail industry podcast in America, Remarkable Retail with his partner, Dallas-based best-selling author Steve Dennis; Canada's top retail industry podcast The Voice of Retailand Canada's top food industry and one of the top Canadian-produced Apple podcast management independent podcasts in the country, The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois from Dalhousie University in Halifax.

Rethink Retail has recognized Michael as one of the top global retail experts for the fifth year in a row, the National Retail Federation has named him one of their top 50 Retail Voices for 2025 and 2026, Thinkers 360 has named him on of the Top 50 global thought leaders in retail, RTIH has named him a top 100 global though leader in retail technology and Coresight Research has named Michael a Retail AI Influencer.

If you are a BBQ fan, you can tune into Michael’s cooking show, Last Request BBQ, on YouTube, Instagram, X and yes, TikTok.