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

like in the movie?

[k6mfw]

I didn't RTFA, I guess this turn was able to outsmart Buford T. Justice.

Re:like in the movie?

[Joce640k]

2,000 crates of Budweiser? They weren't risking much it it flipped over. Nobody's going to cry over that.

Re:like in the movie?

[ShanghaiBill]

Budweiser has a very large brewery in Fort Collins. Right off I25.

And there is a large feedlot right next to it, where they collect the piss.

To be fair, a pretty easy run

[SuperKendall]

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.

Re:To be fair, a pretty easy run

[DirkDaring]

He was clearly exaggerating. It's more like 7 mph.

Re:To be fair, a pretty easy run

[slashdice]

It was probably embarrassed. I mean, would you like to be seen with budweiser?

We're just thrilled!

[swb]

"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."

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.