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Uber's Self-Driving Truck Went on a 120-Mile Beer Run To Make History (businessinsider.com)
An anonymous reader writes: In the arms race to build self-driving vehicles, Uber-owned Otto just reached a landmark milestone by completing the first-ever commercial cargo run for a self-driving truck. On October 20, the self-driving truck left Fort Collins, Colorado at 1 a.m. and drove itself 120 miles on I-25 to Colorado Springs. The driver, who has to be there to help the truck get on and off the interstate exit ramps, moved to the backseat alongside a crowd of transportation officials to watch the historic ride. 2,000 cases of Budweiser beer filled the trailer. "We're just thrilled. We do think this is the future of transportation," James Sembrot, senior director of logistics strategy at Anheuser-Busch, told Business Insider.
I didn't RTFA, I guess this turn was able to outsmart Buford T. Justice.
mfwright@batnet.com
As anyone who has driven I-25 from Ft. Collins to Colorado Springs, it's all wide highway, and the average speed is around 4 MPH.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
... they just have to be better than humans. And sadly, in many areas they already are - give it a few more years for the remaining rough spots.
It was Budweiser. I wouldn't call that beer.
Did you know that gullible is not in the dictionary?
"The driver, who has to be there to help the truck get on and off the interstate exit ramps,"
Seems like an important missing piece of functionality
Inquiring mind wants to know.
because it uses Rice in the brewing process.
We call it Gnats Piss.
"The driver, who has to be there to help the truck get on and off the interstate exit ramps, moved to the backseat alongside a crowd of transportation officials to watch the historic ride."
Slashdot: Is that... Leeegal?
Emperor Uber: I'll make it legal!
Just because I can hook a shark from a boat, I do no offer to wrestle it in the water.
It was only carrying Budweiser this time.... if they really trusted it, they'd carry something better (even out East, I know of multiple quality Colorado microbrews)
...moved to the backseat alongside a crowd of transportation officials, and cracked open a cold one.
What a future!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
and decide to pass another truck at 0.001mph in order to block all traffic for 10 miles?
Honestly if you are not passing by at least 4mph dont pass. they should let cops ticket truckers for passing without using their gas pedal.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
"We're just thrilled. We do think this is the future of transportation," James Sembrot, senior director of logistics strategy at Anheuser-Busch, told Business Insider.
"I have a bonus target that kicks in when I cut our labor tab by $2 million, this will easily help me get there by eliminating a bunch of Teamster hacks and their pension contributions," Sembrot added.
"Wait, is your recorder still running? Can we cut that last part out, I want to keep the focus on how AB-InBev is embracing new technologies, that last part is kind of off the record."
"The driver, who has to be there to help the truck get on and off the interstate exit ramps".
So the Truck did not drive the Full trip. And drove at 1AM to avoid having to handle traffic.
So it is just a stunt.
Normally I just go to the liquor store a few blocks away.
"The driver, who has to be there to help the truck get on and off the interstate exit ramps,"
Uh, what? So the truck was able to go in a straight line in Colorado? Has anyone been on I-25?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
When these self driving trucks need fuel, will they take a truck stop hostage???
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
So you managed to haul a few canned cases of water down a hill. You could have just let it run down the hill and it would have been far more effective at getting there, but hey, you did it through an over priced rube goldberg scheme. Hurray for you!
Place something witty here
My heart sank a little reading that headline. We've all known it's been in the works for a few years now. It was just a matter of time. Of course, as long as they still need somebody in the cab....
Now that we're ramping up the Misogynerd Narrative again (all those evil assigned males chasing the cisfemale hunnies away from programming careers!), I was thinking about maybe polishing off my CDL and giving long haul another shot. Why the hell would I want to be an evil assigned male programmer who hates women because of the gender she was assigned at birth when I could instead be just another lady driver? Granted, there's a creeper here and there, but I'd rather deal with creepers than feminists who think there's some grand conspiracy to make it so you need a dick before you can get a compiler to work.
Here's a question for our resident SJWs. I've met way more lady drivers than womyn-born-womyn programmers. In fact, I don't know any womyn-born-womyn programmers because they refuse to put in the work to create a lasting understanding of the subject matter. I've known some womyn-born-womyn who can fake it for a few months, but none care to actually grok it. (Now, transfemale programmers, I've got binders full of 'em! Well not really but it just goes to prove that the problem isn't the body part between women's ears and sure as hell not some "all men" conspiracy; the problem is the cisfemale entitlement complex.)
Once all the jobs that womyn-born-womyn have been doing like factory work, truck driving, phone answering, and yes HR and accounting, are automated and all that's left are tech jobs, how do you suppose womyn-born-womyn are going to support themselves? What kind of welfare system do you propose that a.) will prevent "misogynerd" faggots like me from getting a sex change to qualify for; b.) will allow womyn-born-womyn to continue to be able to live independently; and c.) will keep womyn-born-womyn able to continue refusing to learn programming?
We could just go to basic income, but then misogynerd tranny programmers like me would qualify! And think about all the other assigned males who'd qualify! And what the hell would happen to the cisfemale entitlement complex if that happened?!
Self-driving tech is still at a point where cars are having accidents (some even fatal) , and requires car drivers to be in the driving seat and have their hands on the wheel.
For them to have a fully loaded semi on the freeway and the driver to get in the back seat was blatantly irresponsible. This experiment should never even have been legal.
Well, ALL those truckers will get retrained as software developers and ALL of them will then get hired as software developers and make more money in the automation field!
Isn't that what everyone thinks?
And that's exactly how it should work! Should we also get rid of our computers and go back to armies of accounting and payroll clerks? Armies of shipping and receiving clerks?
Mike @ The Geek Pub. Let's Make Stuff!
driving on the interstate is easy -- its the merge on and exit off that's hard and the part self driving cars still can't do....
Eventually, Otto started adding dummy trailers, eventually filling them with dummy beer to understand how the truck would react when it was fully loaded.
So they filled the dummy trailers with Budweiser?
because they actually just sent the truck on a local beer run down the street. This is what happens when you hire the lead engineer behind Apple Maps to design the navigation system. ;)
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
Now if only Uber/Otto can automate the drinking of Budweiser
Anybody can work under ideal circumstances. -- Jeff K. (January 4, 2001)
The ripple effect of automated truckers is that truck stops and diners will also be seriously impacted.
If everyone will be unemployed, who will be buying the beer?
Self driving trucks aren't the right answer for long distance shipping. Sure, it becomes cheaper and safer in the longer term to have trucks drive themselves. But it won't reduce the overall traffic levels, lower the pollution from so many trucks, or reduce the damage to the roads by the vehicles. More trucks will still be needed in the future as more and more goods are transported. It will be lowered because each truck will be on the road more.
We need to go back to railroads for deliveries between large cities. From there then trucks, either with a driver or self driving, can take the goods from the rail yards throughout the city and to the smaller cities nearby. It would mean further reliance on shipping containers but they are a proven technology. Drivers would become local from long haul. This plan would get many large trucks off of the highways which would make them safer, reduce maintenance costs, and drop the need to expand them.
For larger companies such as Walmart instead of loading a truck at their warehouse to go to a specific store or two they would load a container. The container would be taken to the closest rail yard. The rail company would have trains going to nearby cities leaving at regular times instead of waiting for the train to reach a certain size. The container would reach the destination city at a certain time and the company would have a local driver there pick it up and drive it to the proper store(s). This would be instead of having one driver go directly from the warehouse to the store.
I thought about this one night when I was going from Toronto to Ottawa on the train and most of the traffic on the highway was large trucks. They were all going to the same places (Kingston, Ottawa, Montreal, etc). If most of that cargo could be shipped by train it would be better for the environment, the highways would be safer, taxpayers would save money on the highways, and companies could save even more on delivery costs.
wtf is "dummy beer"?
I came into this thread expecting to see an Imperial buttload of Smokey and the Bandit related comments. The denizens of Slashdot did not disappoint. :D
That said, can it really be considered a beer run, when all the truck did was deliver beer flavored water?
This space unintentionally left blank.
It was Budweiser, so it's grossly inaccurate to call it 'beer'. The closest description I'll accept for that swill is 'beer-like beverage', and then only if I'm in a really good mood. Really, there ought to be a law about what you can and can't call 'beer' in this country. The only thing worse than Budweiser, is PBR. Even Coors is better than either one of those. Hell, I'd rather get roaring drunk off oilcans of Fosters Lager than drink even one Budweiser.
Damnit. Now I want a Newcastle.
At any rate.. this is hardly a 'win' for self-driving vehicles and so-called 'AI' in general. You're literally leaving a bad taste in everyones' mouth, driving a truckload of Budweiser around. This would have been a good time for the thing to crash; it would have gone a long ways towards proving that 'AI' is capable of being sentient -- as well as showing it's capable of having Good Taste.
The driver, who has to be there to help the truck get on and off the interstate exit ramps, moved to the backseat
How is the demonstration any more compelling with the driver in the back seat? It's more daring, but assuming the driver sits front left and doesn't touch anything, it's no less compelling.
the driver is an 1099 and uber will not pay bail or court costs! also under the NDA the driver will be sued big time if he talks to the cops or the courts about any think that does done in the truck.
This is going to create high demand for a new Waze feature: how to avoid self-driving trucks. The pitch: use our app or die.
Will the uber e-beer delivery app to age checks? boot leg? pay taxes? comply with states beer laws?
If they try there we are not a taxi line with Liquor they may be looking some hard time and or big fines in a criminal court of law and not a forced arbitration one.
phone rings
Colorado Springs: Hi, this is Bob a Colorado Springs distribution center
ABI dispatch: Hi, Bob this is Murphy at dispatch
Bob: Hey Murph, how's the wife. ... nothing here from you since yesterday!
Murph: doing well Bob thanks for asking
Murph: say Bob, that last truck we sent hasn't come back yet, you guys still unloading?
Bob: well that is odd Murph, haven't seen a truck today let me check the lot
Murph: !.....
meanwhile at UC Colorado Springs
pan back from automated budwiser truck
Skolnick: Wormser, Poindexter great job!
Booger: diabolical smile Let's Party!
TFA is just wrong, wrong, wrong. Not the first, not the biggest, not the most difficult.
Read this instead http://qz.com/656104/a-fleet-o...
A week of driving, trucks from several manufacturers, 2000 km Stockholm to Rotterdam across 4 borders.
Uber don't have a clue what they are up against. 120 miles? F**king amateurs.
"Cock Up Your Beaver" does not mean what you think. This sig is intended to clog filters and annoy do-gooders
120 miles is quite a drive for water.
Lake effect storms? Snow Chi Mihn (google it)? hail storms? Etc.
Other than that I was deeply disappointed about the lack of pizza.
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
So it's almost self-driving.
Then again, its cargo is almost beer.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
well, it IS an old movie...
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
Truck drivers everywhere are clenching their butts, knowing their job isn't so safe anymore.
Uber's Self-Driving Truck Went on a 120-Mile Beer Run To Make History^H^H^H^H^H^H^H Publicity
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
Sooner or later we're going to have to understand that automation has and will continue to put people out of work. We're going to have to come to positive terms with this as well. Human life shouldn't be a 9-5, not to say that purpose isn't desirable or necessary but we're going to have to deal with a large set of the population that isn't driven by production. I would argue that this has already been done with large inner city populations that have little to no chance at gainful employment. For now the situation is terrible and filled with problems. We need to do something better than the welfare state.
The sooner we start looking at redefining what it means to be a human being and a society the sooner we'll be better off for it too. After all, if all this work on science and technology isn't to make a life easier then what is reason we're pursing this? The Amish have it nailed as far as leading the simple life and remaining productive if you want to go that route, otherwise things will continue to change and just giving people huge amounts of time to do nothing will end in disaster.
There are too many variable that can cause a crash. There will be a crash, and when it happens, lawsuits will ensue. After enough loss is suffered then sel;f driving trucks will be no more.
http://www.npr.org/sections/mo...
Flip the chart to 2014.
There's going to be a lot of disaffected out-of-work folks in the future.
My spoon is too big.
If they had hauled Coors from Texarkana to Atlanta, they would have been re-enacting "Smokey and the Bandit". What a missed opportunity.
There are too many variable that can cause a crash. There will be a crash, and when it happens, lawsuits will ensue. After enough loss is suffered then sel;f driving trucks will be no more.
Actually, that's how it is supposed to work. Eventually though, if they can cut down the accident rate enough, it will become less expensive than human drivers, and then that's pretty much the end for human drivers.
In other news, the remake of Smokey and the Bandit is gonna suck!
"Grab them by the pussy" -- President of the United States of America
I for one welcome our new beer hauling overlords!
Uber would not get off that easy they may of been forced to have a full code audit in court and may of been at the very least had many people who worked on this maybe facing accessory changes even more so if they erased or tried to erased logs or did not comply with discovery to get info maybe even the source code to the system. And no they can't hide under a system of contractors / sub contractors.
As for the civil case they may of needed to pay off the victim big time to keep the case out of court. As the #1 it would looked real bad for them to try to come up all kinds of bs in a case + the victim likely would of had a high profile legal team on there side.
The trunk went to get piss canned for consumption by wife-beaters and rednecks, not beer. Beer is actually pleasant to drink.
Odd that people are so excited about the future given the amount of unemployed drivers there will be.
how ironic, millions invested to create autonomous vehicles so that they can transport that budweiser swirl called beer.
This site the article was quoted from doesn't allow ad-blockers.
Since most malware these days comes from ads, that means they are effectively a malware sponsoring site.