Beer is the star of the first delivery made by an autonomous truck

Well, we are talking about beer in the trailer of the truck, not about the driver having overindulged in this amber drink and the truck having to finish the route while he slept it off. The person in charge of the steering wheel let the self-driving systems carry out all the operations and manoeuvres needed for the load to arrive safe and sound at its destination, in the first test carried out with an autonomous truck carrying a real load.

The journey covered about 195 km, from Fort Collins, where the Budweiser brewery is located, to Denver, both in the state of Colorado. The truck travelled along the I-25 motorway without any kind of human intervention, although the driver was monitoring the behaviour of the self-driving systems at all times. These never failed and allowed the delivery to be completed without problems.

Otto is a company that has specialised in manufacturing self-driving systems for trucks. A few months ago it was bought by UBER for 680 million dollars, and it has equipped this truck with several systems, among which stands out a LIDAR sensor, along with others based on radar to detect obstacles ahead, while the GPS tracks the truck’s position at all times.

All these systems meant that of the 194 kilometres the journey lasted, 160 were driven without a driver. During those moments in which the truck took care of everything, the driver rested comfortably in the rear of the cab, where the bed he uses for sleeping is located.

The driver took the wheel in urban areas, at the exit and at the arrival at the distribution centre, but for most of the journey, while on the motorway, it was the truck itself that drove at an average speed of 88.5 km/h. On arrival, we assume they toasted with one of the beers they carried, because, moreover, it was a special edition. The cans bore a message commemorating this milestone, because Budweiser also contributed financially to this project and so wanted those cans to commemorate the event.

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Via | Carscoops