Walmart said Tuesday it has added a second route for a pilot program that uses self-driving trucks for deliveries, expanding the tests beyond its home state of Arkansas into Louisiana.  

Walmart’s initiative began last year when it began picking up customers’ online orders and delivering them in an autonomous car within a two-mile radius of a dark store in its hometown of Bentonville, Ark.

Walmart partnered with Gatik — a California-based logistics company — and is now expanding the pilot to Louisiana and multi-temperature box trucks. The partners have driven more than 70,000 miles in Bentonville with a safety driver, Walmart said.

The box trucks will operate in Bentonville as well as a longer delivery route in Louisiana, where they will pick up merchandise at a Walmart Supercenter and drop the items off at a designated location where customers can go to pick up their orders.

The trucks will initially have a safety driver, Walmart said.

The pilot will begin early next year along a 20-mile route between New Orleans and Metairie, Louisiana.

“This unlocks the opportunity for customers who live further away from our store in New Orleans to benefit from the convenience and ease of Walmart’s pickup service,” said Walmart senior vice president Tom Ward in a blog post Tuesday.