Otto-Budweiser Autonomous Truck Delivery
The Otto-Budweiser Autonomous Truck Delivery was an October 2016 run in which Uber's self-driving truck unit Otto hauled Budweiser about 120 miles on Interstate 25 in Colorado, mostly under automated control.
What happened and why it matters
The Otto run was an early public test of autonomous trucking, a technology freight shippers still watch as a possible answer to driver shortages and long-haul costs. On October 20, 2016, a truck carrying 51,744 cans of Budweiser traveled from Fort Collins to Colorado Springs. A human drove the local roads, then the system drove about 100 miles of interstate while the driver sat in the sleeper berth. Critics called the event mostly promotional, and Uber shut its self-driving truck program in 2018. Autonomous trucking has progressed slowly since, mainly on fixed highway lanes between hubs.