Uber’s Otto has become the first agency in the world to deliver a consignment using driverless truck technology. The consignment contained 51,744 Budweiser beer cans. This is the first such delivery that has been successfully completed using the driverless truck technology.
The feat becomes more remarkable as Google, Tesla, Apple and many other industry leaders have been busy conducting road tests of the technology. Uber had acquired tech start-up Otto and had partnered with Volvo in August 2016 for making its mark in the driverless vehicles segment.
The journey started from Fort Collins and ended at Colorado Springs via Downtown Denver. The press release by the company mentioned, "By using cameras, radar, and lidar sensors mounted on the vehicle to “see” the road, Otto’s system controlled the acceleration, braking, and steering of the truck to carry the beer exit-to-exit without any human intervention. In fact, our professional driver was out of the driver’s seat for the entire 120-mile journey down I-25, monitoring the self-driving system from the sleeper berth in the back."
The Future
Otto, a start-up established in 2016 making such big news in the driver-less truck technology, will surely shake the world up. One can expect major fireworks in terms of practically using driverless vehicles from the industry heavyweights. Google has been testing its driverless vehicles technology for a long time now whole Tesla has announced that it would add the self-driving hardware in all its vehicles. But whatever happens now, a first will always remain a first.
Source: TrucksDekho.com
