diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index ecc738cc0c5..69f81a7e558 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -43,3 +43,9 @@ script:
   # SDK Components tests
   - cd $TRAVIS_BUILD_DIR/sdk/python
   - python3 -m unittest discover --verbose --start-dir tests --top-level-directory=..
+
+  # Backend unit tests
+  - cd $TRAVIS_BUILD_DIR/backend/src
+  - gimme -f 1.11.4
+  - source ~/.gimme/envs/go1.11.4.env
+  - go test ./...
diff --git a/test/backend-unit-test/Dockerfile b/test/backend-unit-test/Dockerfile
deleted file mode 100644
index ff7824eee36..00000000000
--- a/test/backend-unit-test/Dockerfile
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,18 +0,0 @@
-# This image has the script to kick off the ML pipeline backend unit test,
-# and upload the result to GCS
-
-FROM golang:1.11
-
-RUN curl https://dl.google.com/dl/cloudsdk/release/google-cloud-sdk.tar.gz > /tmp/google-cloud-sdk.tar.gz
-RUN mkdir -p /usr/local/gcloud
-RUN tar -C /usr/local/gcloud -xf /tmp/google-cloud-sdk.tar.gz
-RUN /usr/local/gcloud/google-cloud-sdk/install.sh
-ENV PATH $PATH:/usr/local/gcloud/google-cloud-sdk/bin
-
-# install go-junit-report. It converts go test result to junit xml.
-RUN go get -u github.com/jstemmer/go-junit-report
-RUN go build github.com/jstemmer/go-junit-report
-
-COPY . /go/src/github.com/kubeflow/pipelines
-
-ENTRYPOINT ["/go/src/github.com/kubeflow/pipelines/test/backend-unit-test/run_test.sh"]
diff --git a/test/backend-unit-test/OWNERS b/test/backend-unit-test/OWNERS
deleted file mode 100644
index 23d368bc30f..00000000000
--- a/test/backend-unit-test/OWNERS
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,6 +0,0 @@
-approvers:
-  - vicaire
-  - IronPan
-reviewers:
-  - vicaire
-  - IronPan
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/backend-unit-test/run_test.sh b/test/backend-unit-test/run_test.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index f68066b412f..00000000000
--- a/test/backend-unit-test/run_test.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,68 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/bash
-
-# Copyright 2018 Google LLC
-#
-# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
-# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
-# You may obtain a copy of the License at
-#
-# https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-#
-# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
-# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
-# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
-# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
-# limitations under the License.
-
-set -xe
-
-usage()
-{
-    echo "usage: run_test.sh
-    --results-gcs-dir GCS directory for the test results. Usually gs://<project-id>/<commit-sha>/api_integration_test
-    [-h help]"
-}
-
-while [ "$1" != "" ]; do
-    case $1 in
-             --results-gcs-dir )shift
-                                RESULTS_GCS_DIR=$1
-                                ;;
-             -h | --help )      usage
-                                exit
-                                ;;
-             * )                usage
-                                exit 1
-    esac
-    shift
-done
-
-if [ -z "$RESULTS_GCS_DIR" ]; then
-    usage
-    exit 1
-fi
-
-GITHUB_REPO=kubeflow/pipelines
-BASE_DIR=/go/src/github.com/${GITHUB_REPO}
-JUNIT_TEST_RESULT=junit_BackendUnitTestOutput.xml
-TEST_DIR=backend/src
-
-cd "${BASE_DIR}/${TEST_DIR}"
-
-# turn on go module
-export GO111MODULE=on
-
-# Run test and store the exit code.
-echo "Run unit test..."
-TEST_RESULT=`go test -v ./... 2>&1`
-TEST_EXIT_CODE=$?
-
-# Log the test result
-printf '%s\n' "$TEST_RESULT"
-# Convert test result to junit.xml
-printf '%s\n' "$TEST_RESULT" | go-junit-report > ${JUNIT_TEST_RESULT}
-
-echo "Copy test result to GCS ${RESULTS_GCS_DIR}/${JUNIT_TEST_RESULT}"
-gsutil cp ${JUNIT_TEST_RESULT} ${RESULTS_GCS_DIR}/${JUNIT_TEST_RESULT}
-
-exit $TEST_EXIT_CODE
diff --git a/test/unit_test_gke.yaml b/test/unit_test_gke.yaml
deleted file mode 100644
index eb4e4be01a6..00000000000
--- a/test/unit_test_gke.yaml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,103 +0,0 @@
-# Copyright 2018 Google LLC
-#
-# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
-# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
-# You may obtain a copy of the License at
-#
-#      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-#
-# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
-# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
-# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
-# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
-# limitations under the License.
-
-apiVersion: argoproj.io/v1alpha1
-kind: Workflow
-metadata:
-  generateName: unit-test-
-spec:
-  entrypoint: unit-test
-  arguments:
-    parameters:
-    - name: image-build-context-gcs-uri
-    - name: target-image-prefix
-    - name: test-results-gcs-dir
-    - name: backend-unit-test-image-suffix
-      value: backend-unit-test
-  templates:
-  - name: unit-test
-    inputs:
-      parameters:
-      - name: target-image-prefix
-      - name: test-results-gcs-dir
-      - name: backend-unit-test-image-suffix
-        value: backend-unit-test
-    steps:
-    - - name: build-backend-unit-tests-image
-        template: build-image
-        arguments:
-          parameters:
-          - name: docker-path
-            value: .
-          - name: docker-file
-            value: test/backend-unit-test/Dockerfile
-          - name: image-name
-            value: "{{inputs.parameters.target-image-prefix}}{{inputs.parameters.backend-unit-test-image-suffix}}"
-    - - name: run-backend-unit-tests
-        template: run-backend-unit-tests
-        arguments:
-          parameters:
-          - name: test-results-gcs-dir
-            value: "{{inputs.parameters.test-results-gcs-dir}}"
-          - name: backend-unit-test-image
-            value: "{{inputs.parameters.target-image-prefix}}{{inputs.parameters.backend-unit-test-image-suffix}}"
-
-  - name: run-backend-unit-tests
-    inputs:
-      parameters:
-      - name: test-results-gcs-dir
-      - name: backend-unit-test-image
-    container:
-      image: "{{inputs.parameters.backend-unit-test-image}}"
-      imagePullPolicy: 'Always'
-      args: [
-        "--results-gcs-dir", "{{inputs.parameters.test-results-gcs-dir}}",
-      ]
-
-  # Build and push image
-  - name: build-image
-    inputs:
-      parameters:
-      # GCS URI prefix pointing to a .tar.gz archive of Docker build context
-      - name: image-build-context-gcs-uri
-        value: "{{workflow.parameters.image-build-context-gcs-uri}}"
-      # The relative code path to the Dockerfile
-      - name: docker-path
-      # Name of the Docker file to use. "Dockerfile" by default
-      - name: docker-file
-        value: Dockerfile
-      - name: image-name
-    outputs:
-      parameters:
-        - name: strict-image-name
-          valueFrom:
-            path: /outputs/strict-image-name/file
-    container:
-      image: gcr.io/ml-pipeline-test/image-builder:v20181128-0.1.3-rc.1-109-ga5a14dc-e3b0c4
-      imagePullPolicy: 'Always'
-      args: [
-        "--image-build-context-gcs-uri", "{{inputs.parameters.image-build-context-gcs-uri}}",
-        "--docker_path", "{{inputs.parameters.docker-path}}",
-        "--docker_file", "{{inputs.parameters.docker-file}}",
-        "--image_name", "{{inputs.parameters.image-name}}",
-      ]
-      env:
-      - name: DOCKER_HOST
-        value: 127.0.0.1
-    sidecars:
-    - name: dind
-      image: docker:17.10-dind
-      securityContext:
-        privileged: true
-      mirrorVolumeMounts: true