Servo - December 2016

THIS BUD’S FOR OTTO Otto — the self-driving truck company acquired by Uber for nearly $700 million — made its first delivery. Using a modified Volvo 18-wheeler that has dozens of cameras and sensors, the Otto self-driving truck drove 120 miles on October 20, 2016 carrying

51,744 cans of Budweiser from Fort Collins, CO to Colorado Springs.

This was the first time commercial cargo was delivered by a self-driving truck. The Budweiser cans even had a special message on them that read: “First delivery by self-driving truck.” Otto says the human truck driver was out of the driver’s seat for the entire highway portion of the trip, monitoring the self-driving system from the back. (It’s a little concerning the human driver isn’t closer to the steering wheel in case of an emergency.) Otto says at no point was human intervention required on the highway.

The human driver did intervene during city driving and to back up the 18- wheeler towards the loading dock at its final destination.

The Otto self-driving truck maintained an average speed of 55 MPH and was followed by a Colorado state patrol the entire way. Otto’s self-driving technology includes $30,000 worth of additional hardware that works with any big rig that has an automatic transmission.