We may not yet have hover cars or that space elevator that they are always talking about, but technology is not failing us completely. Uber has been spending all of that money it has been making from us using it as our personal bar shuttle service to explore the wonders of autonomous motor vehicles. The company is testing autonomous cars to pick up passengers, but what it’s doing with it’s driver-less trucks is truly magical.
In the arms race to build self-driving vehicles, the Uber-owned company Otto last week reached a milestone by completing the first commercial cargo run for a self-driving truck.
On Thursday, the self-driving truck left Fort Collins, Colorado, at 1 a.m. and drove itself 120 miles on I-25 to Colorado Springs. The driver, who has to be there to help the truck get on and off the interstate exit ramps, moved to the backseat alongside a crowd of transportation officials to watch the historic ride.
Two thousand cases of Budweiser beer filled the trailer.
“We’re just thrilled — we do think this is the future of transportation,” James Sembrot, the senior director of logistics strategy at Anheuser-Busch InBev, told Business Insider.
Sure, it’s Budweiser, which is the most awful best selling thing on the planet, but they had to start somewhere. Look, if the truck had a mishap, real beer lovers weren’t going to weep over spilled Bud.
I, for one, welcome our new computer-driven beer transportation overlords.
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