Here's why you'll be seeing trucks without anyone behind the wheel on Toronto roads

As counterintuitive as it may feel, if you see a vehicle travelling on a Toronto roadway without anyone in the driver's seat, don't be alarmed — it's all part of a new initiative from one of Canada's largest grocers.

Motorists and pedestrians will definitely be doing second and third takes when they come across one of Lobaws' new driverless delivery trucks, which have just hit the streets across the GTA.

Today marks an historic milestone: Gatik and @loblawco have deployed the first fully driverless commercial operations in Canada. Watch ⬇️ to learn more about this landmark for the autonomous trucking industry led by Gatik and Canada’s largest retailer. https://t.co/J7kKNpbmQj

— Gatik (@Gatik_AI) October 5, 2022

The autonomous box trucks will apparently only be travelling on "fixed, repetitive, predictable" routes to send grocery orders from select warehouse locations, and are part of a project that has been many years — and over 150,000 orders, all delivered safely and successfully — in the making, for those who may be apprehensive about the whole thing.

While test runs had a "safety driver" stationed in the passenger's seat of each vehicle to take over if necessary, the trucks will now be operating completely independently in and around the city.

Loblaw Companies Ltd. says that the new tech, from California-based AI firm Gatik, allows them to make deliveries more frequently and on more routes than before, "establishing a supply chain that is safer, more sustainable and more resilient."

Loblaw is rolling out self-driving delivery trucks in Toronto https://t.co/KL6zd1BXox #Toronto #deliveryTO

— blogTO (@blogTO) November 24, 2020

It's a first for Canada, and is bound to trip out a fair share of people — but not any more than drivers falling asleep at the wheels of their self-driving Teslas, which is also a thing that's been happening in the GTA lately.