Startup company Otto recently set a new milestone in the field of transportation. A Volvo truck equipped with autonomous driving technology successfully completed the first commercial autonomous delivery in the history of transportation after the truck successfully delivered 50,000 cans of Budweiser beer to its destination, covering 193 kilometers without any complications.
To the company Otto from San Francisco, which for approx. 680 million US dollars recently purchased American Uber, has succeeded in something that no company before it has done. With a Volvo truck, equipped with their nearly US$30,000 worth of autonomous driving technology, he managed to do the first autonomous delivery in the history of transport.
He drove 193 kilometers from Denver to Colorado Springs (Colorado, USA) without the help of a driver (he only got him on the highway) and arrived safely at his destination 50 thousand cans of Budweiser beer with a special label.
Hardware and software, which was demonstrated by Otto on the Volvo example, does not (yet) mean the beginning of the end for professional drivers, as the system only works on highways, in an area littered with intersections, traffic lights and pedestrians, still needs a driver due to a host of unforeseeable factors.
Otherwise, Otto's technology offers fourth category autonomous driving (Level 4), which means complete autonomy. He can't even boast about that Tesla Motors.
With technology for autonomous driving on the highway, the truck can maintains a safe distance between vehicles, if necessary, well also changes lanes. It should be in the future the role of the driver reduced to the duties of the harbor pilot, as the truck should only be operated in the final or initial phase. They also calculated the costs of autonomous driving. For the mentioned relationship, it should amount to 470 US dollars, which is comparable to the price that would have to be paid for a trucker.
READ MORE: Uber: "Slovenia, here I come!" In Slovenia before the end of 2016!
Otherwise, we switch from the autonomous driving mode to the normal one with a special one red button (one located at the steering wheel, the other in the sleeper cabin), which immediately terminates self-driving mode. Meanwhile, Otto's engineers are already working on an even more advanced system that would be capable of, among other things predict the reactions of other drivers, react to sudden changes in the weather etc. Otherwise, the infrastructure will also have to participate in the development of autonomous driving.
First successful delivery by autonomous truck in history:
More information:
https://ot.to
