Uber launched a service called Uber Freight last year which functions similar to the ride-sharing app but instead of hauling people around, you haul stuff. What is interesting about this is that the trucks used to haul stuff around, Uber says its currently self-driving.
What a minute, does that mean Uber is ahead of Tesla? Well Tesla announced about an electric-semi so that isn’t its main competition but the future of trucking is definitely in autonomous mode especially if you count what you saw in the movie, Logan, a realistic glimpse of the future.
So where exactly is Uber testing this? In the state of Arizona whose state laws allows for self-driving vehicles to be tested on public roads. Looks like their investment into Otto, albeit creating a huge controversy such as a lawsuit from Waymo which was recently settled is finally paying off. Otto was a tech company focusing on autonomous tech for trucks which Anthony Levandowski (a former Google engineer who was pivotal in their self-driving car project) founded.
The emergence of this test puts Uber ahead of the pack as other companies focus on self-driving cars, Uber seems to have the lead when it comes to self-driving trucks.
