Uber's Self-Driving Truck Completes 120-Mile Beer Run

Otto is an Uber-owned company that develops trucks with self-driving features. Today, the ride-hailing company just made a fantastic breakthrough. It was able to successfully complete the world's first commercial delivery using a self-driving vehicle.

On October 20, 2016 early morning, while all of us were going about our lives, an 18-wheel tractor trailer trekked through Colorado springs with 50,000 Budweiser beer cans. This is such a mundane occurrence, but with one caveat - the truck was driving itself. "The journey began 120 miles away at an Anheuser-Busch facility in Loveland, Colorado," said in the report of The Verge. The Volvo truck was rigged with cameras and sensors.
Uber sent "a beer-filled tractor-trailer on a journey of more than 120 miles through Colorado," writes CBS News. While the delivery was totally autonomous, there was a backup professional driver on board. The driver was monitoring the trip inside the vehicle's sleeper berth.

With the rapidly expanding Uber self-driving cabs in the streets of United States, otto is realizing its vision as a shipping company. Now, the company is taking a step towards a safer and more productive future, making it possible for drivers to rest while their vehicles autonomously drive for miles.

On the other hand, "with Uber's rapid expansion into cities worldwide, it likely won't be long until it's self-driving trucks can negotiate confusing inner-city streets too," according to a report by En Gadget. In response to the beer-delivery breakthrough, Uber is currently opening up its doors for potential partners. In fact, they are planning on calling it "Uber Freight."

There is no word on when the "Uber Freight" will formally be released, but making the first successful delivery without any untoward incident or hurdle is a big step towards Uber's dream of becoming a logistics company in the future. This milestone is, indeed, marvelous