First Commercial Driverless Truck Makes a Beer Run

Uber Technologies Inc. says it made the world’s first driverless truck cargo run last week by delivering more than 50,000 cans of Budweiser beer from a brewery in Colorado Springs, Colo., to Fort Collins, Colo.

A professional driver piloted the big rig on and off the expressway. But he monitored the truck’s self-driving progress during its 120-mile highway run from a sleeper berth in the back of the cab. The truck tractor was retrofitted with some $30,000 in equipment that included a camera, radar units and laser sensors.

The truck was developed by Otto, a startup devoted to self-driving trucks that launched in May and was acquired by Uber in August. Daimler and Volvo are among other truck companies that are developing robotic commercial vehicles.

Trucking companies are interested in self-driving technologies because such systems could reduce highway crashes and help ease a shortage of human drivers.