Self-driving beer truck goes 120-plus miles on delivery
ASSOCIATED PRESS
This October 2016 photo provided by Anheuser-Busch shows a self-driving truck that delivers beer, in Colorado. Anheuser-Busch said it completed the world’s first commercial shipment by self-driving truck, sending a beer-filled tractor-trailer on a journey of more than 120 miles through Colorado.
Denver » Anheuser-Busch says it has completed the world’s first commercial shipment by self-driving truck, sending a beer-filled tractor-trailer on a journey of more than 120 miles through Colorado.
The company says it teamed with self-driving truck maker Otto and the state of Colorado for the feat. The trailer, loaded with Budweiser beer, began the self-driving trip Thursday at a weigh station in Fort Collins, Colorado, and ran along Interstate 25 through Denver before wrapping up in Colorado Springs.
The company says a professional truck driver was on board for the entire route and monitored the trip from the cab’s sleeper berth.
Anheuser-Busch says it hopes to see self-driving technology widely deployed.
Otto was recently acquired by Uber.
4 responses to “Self-driving beer truck goes 120-plus miles on delivery”
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How well does this self driving truck perform during the worst winter momths in Colorado when some highways can be covered in snow and ice that will obscure all lane markings and divders? Some Colorado mountain pass highways can be completely covered in layer of freshly fallen snow and slush and the only way you navigate is to follow the grooves in the snow created by the tires of cars and trucks that constantly run in these grooves and to change lanes on the highway you have to run over the snow and slush to reach the adjacent tire grooves. There are no other references unless you are following cars or trucks ahead of you so can this driverless truck safely navigate those situations? Of course on Oahu that never occurs and with such driver assist technology, Oahu highways can be packed wiith cars and City buses and with this advanced driver assist techinology almost completely eliminate accidents during rush hour traffic, keeping drive times within set parameters. That would kind of look like the traffic in the movie Minority Report with Tom Cruise. That is coming and would only highlight the compete USELESSNESS and FAILURE of the Oahu rail project.
Not mentioned is how a self driving vehicle would do at night with one of the Nei’s pouring rain storms. And lets add a power failure so no road lights are on. Are we to say the vehicle would still drive perfectly safe?
Main thing the truck doesn’t crash, and spill beer all over the road.
Self-driving vehicles remain an unproven technology as long as human passengers are aboard to keep a watchful eye. The real celebration begins when true autonomous vehicles take to the road in heavy traffic and when traveling unplanned routes.