Don?t worry, a human driver accompanied the 45,000 cans of beer The world?s first delivery of commercial cargo by a self-driving vehicle occurred on October 20 and the big rig was full of Colorado beer. Other drivers on the robo-truck?s route down Interstate 25?from Anheuser-Busch?s Fort Collins brewery south to Colorado Springs?may not have noticed anything different about the 18-wheeled, 53-foot trailer as it made the 2-hour journey. But Anhueser-Busch partnered with the San Francisco-based self-driving technology company Otto?recently acquired by Uber for $680 million?to spend $30,000 retrofitting the truck to make the journey.
Autonomous driving technology means that while a human driver accompanied the beer delivery, he only had to navigate the truck to the highway before turning on the self-driving mode. Otto?s hardware uses laser detection, radar bolts, and a high precision camera to do the job. It?s also compatible with any truck that has an automatic transmission. The Colorado Department of Transportation, Colorado State Patrol, and a convoy of safety vehicles monitored the test. "This milestone marks the first time in history that a self-driving vehicle has shipped commercial cargo, making it a landmark achievement for self-driving technology, the state of Colorado, and the transportation industry," Otto and Anheuser-Busch ?a unit of Belgium-based Anheuser-Busch InBev?said in a statement.
At the moment, the retrofitted Otto truck still requires a...