Commentary

52,000 Cans Of Budweiser Shipped 120 Miles In Self-Driving Truck

Anheuser-Busch has found a use for the self-driving truck.

The brewery just shipped 52,000 cans of Budweiser on a self-driving truck, which drove itself on I-25 from Fort Collins through Denver and onto Colorado Springs.

Anheuser-Busch says this is the first time in history that a self-driving vehicle has shipped commercial cargo, making it a landmark achievement for self-driving technology.

The driver was out of the driver’s seat during the entire 120-mle stretch of highway. He monitored the self-driving system from the sleeper berth in the back.

With cameras, radar and lidar sensors mounted on the vehicle to ‘see’ the road, the system from San Francisco startup Otto controlled the acceleration, braking and steering of the truck to carry the beer exit-to-exit without any human intervention.

The driver still does the loading, unloading and city driving parts of the trip.

Otto was purchased by Uber a few months ago for about $680 million.

“We admire Otto’s vision that will shape the future of self-driving transportation,” said James Sembrot, senior director, logistics strategy at Anheuser-Busch. “As we continue to partner with long-haul carriers to ship our beers, we hope to see this technology widely deployed across our highways to improve safety for all road users.”

Gotta love that with all this technology, the video shows that while the truck drove itself, the attending driver sat in the back and read what looks like a traditional, paper magazine.

8 comments about "52,000 Cans Of Budweiser Shipped 120 Miles In Self-Driving Truck".
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  1. Jeffrey Litvack from SSI Advisors, Inc., October 26, 2016 at 9:41 a.m.

    Show us the link to the video please

  2. Chuck Martin from Chuck Martin replied, October 26, 2016 at 10:49 a.m.

    Here it is, Jeffrey 
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qb0Kzb3haK8

  3. R MARK REASBECK from www.USAonly.US , October 26, 2016 at 11:30 a.m.

    Chuck, You're the man.  I was going to send this story to you today.
    As you know, I am 100+% AGAINST all self driving anything.
    Let's see 'em run this test in February when the roads are iced......
    You really want to be driving next to a semi WITHOUT A DRIVER?
    what about blow-outs, how about a deer crashing into the headlights?
    No thanx....EVER.
    i'm in contact with my local assemblyman to see if we can pass legislation to keep out autonamous anything on the roads of Tennessee.

  4. Chuck Martin from Chuck Martin replied, October 26, 2016 at 1:47 p.m.

    Thank you, Mark. The truck was self-driving only on the actual highway, and it was followed the entire way by a police car, as an aside.

  5. Rick Thomas from MediaRich Marketing, October 26, 2016 at 2:04 p.m.

    Now you see the reason why Donald Trump has arrived.  Self driving trucks are the future and thousands of truck drivers will lose their jobs because of this new technology.  There's no way this will help out the middle class Trump followers because they as a lot of people in America do not want to adjust to the new digital age.  It's like the coal mining industry as clean energy is the future.  Driverless trucks are the future.  One computer geek will create a program where one guy sits in a control room and steers driverless trucks all over America.

    What's that "change or die" philosophy they talk about?  This is another example.  A lot of middle class people will lose their incomes if they don't see this coming.  And it's coming.     

  6. Chuck Lantz from 2007ac.com, 2017ac.com network, October 26, 2016 at 6:27 p.m.

    I'm with Mark Reasbeck on this one.  While it could be argued that self-driving trucks would be safer than many of the truck drivers we now have, some of whom are driving while half-asleep, or worse, or under-trained for emergency situations, it will take more than a few tests to convince me.

    Aside from that, don't we already have a reasonably safe way to move things cross-country, called "trains"?  And why was there a police car following the truck? ... to quickly identify and tag the bodies should the truck run over an SUV or two?  

    But the real reason that myself and others are dead-set against driverless trucks and cars is that we'll feel even more foolish when we attempt to flip-off those "drivers" when they do something that offends our too-short road-rageous tempers.  Or have the driverless program builders already considered adding a "Screw you, too, pal !" response to those truck's exterior audio systems?  

  7. Chuck Martin from Chuck Martin replied, October 26, 2016 at 7:17 p.m.

    To clarify, Chuck, the police car was an escort of sorts, since this is was still a trial, with involvement and backing by the state.

  8. R MARK REASBECK from www.USAonly.US , October 26, 2016 at 8:29 p.m.

    Response to Chuck Lantz,
    Chuck bad analogy to have the trains bail this out.  I call this autonomous movement  Amtrack II, because  they can't even keep trains from colliding,  ON THE SAME TRACK. (last year in Germany 2 trains went head on, and SIX fail-safe computer programs FAILED) So what happens when you have 10 lanes of LA traffic with on and off rampers, couches, ladders, recap treads,  and 40 gallon trash bags in the road, and a certain percent of the population is illegal with no insurance??
    That's a vacation spot I'm waiting for.  The best part is with these self driving vehicles, if you need to be in another lane just start merging toward that 52,000# rolling beer keg, and it will back off  and let you in.  And what about the truck comes down a hill and when does the computer realizes  it needs to take the run-away-truck ramp? This is just ripe with stupidity.

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