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.

Comments

Re:To be fair, a pretty easy run

[lostinbrave]

Uhm I have never experienced 4 mph except in metro Denver, and the slower speeds in traffic are where more accidents happen anyway and there are more problems. And yes I used to make the drive fairly often.

Re:Should never have been allowed

[chrysrobyn]

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.

According to TFA, they've been preparing for this one run for 6 months. Mapping it out, training the AI on the dynamics of loaded trailers, sending humans down the road to see when the safest time is, etc. You can bet more than a few lawyers were consulted during the course of this work between two companies.

AI cars have such a low safety requirement, they're going to have to swerve around them to avoid tripping over it. In cars, they have soccer moms with screaming kids and middle managers gabbing on cell phones, distracted driving accounts for half of the traffic out there. In the case of a commercial trucker, we're talking overtired and bored. An AI with an adequate vision system can easily out perform the most distracted drivers on controlled roads in perfect weather. We talk about self driving cars as though they only win the safety game with 0% accidents, but if safety concerned moms and wealthy business people buy them, I think tail end of the safety curve is going to get chopped off, bringing the averages up. Hell, I'd chip in for a retrofit on a BMW I keep seeing on my commute.

Not the First

[CaptainOfSpray]

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.