Reuters reports that Uber is shuttering its autonomous freight truck division after some two years in the space, in order to focus on self-driving cars.
Reuters reports that Uber is shuttering its autonomous freight truck division after some two years in the space. Reuters reports autonomous freight truck division
The company got started with self-driving trucks back in 2016, when it acquired Otto – a startup focused on developing aftermarket kits to allow trucks to cover long distances on freeways autonomously – for $680 million. acquired Otto a startup focused on developing aftermarket kits
Hard Fork?
Hard Fork.
HARD FORK
Hard Fork. HARD FORK
The purchase netted Uber the talent of Otto co-founder Anthony Levandowski, the engineer who built Google’s very first self-driving car. But along with that came trouble: in February 2017, Alphabet’s Waymo – the self-driving vehicle firm spun off from Google – sued Uber for stealing trade secrets, accusing Levandowski of stealing 14,000 “highly confidential” files before leaving the firm. After a year of heated court battles, the two companies settled in February. sued Uber stealing trade secrets the two companies settled
The move announced on Monday will also signal the end of Uber Freight, the company’s service that connected trucking companies with cargo that needed hauling across the US. As with its other services, Uber built an app to help vetted users find a load they could book and haul right from their phones. Uber Freight
It seems like the decision was made in a hurry, as San Francisco-based Uber Freight took to its blog just a few days ago to herald its successful year-long partnership with Land O’Lakes in hauling the latter’s dairy products across Texas. herald its successful year-long partnership with Land O’Lakes
In a statement, Eric Meyhofer, head of the company’s Advanced Technologies Group (ATG), said that the idea is to focus exclusively on self-driving cars from here on out. TechCrunch noted that Uber ATG will continue looking at ways to tackle autonomous highway driving, and may return to self-driving trucks, but only after it has developed the foundation of the self-driving system. TechCrunch noted
In that regard, it’ll need all the help it can get. It’s fired Levandowski, who’s now behind another self-driving truck firm called Kache.ai. It was also forced to suspend its autonomous vehicle tests on streets in Arizona following a fatal accident that killed a pedestrian. The company also paused tests in Pittsburgh, only to start them back up this month with human operators at the wheel. Kache.ai forced to suspend its autonomous vehicle tests on streets in Arizona a fatal accident that killed a pedestrian start them back up this month
CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in January that Uber will have self-driving cabs on the road by mid-2019. That’ll likely require all hands on deck, and it seems like that’s the plan with the decision to kill off its trucking business. Uber will have self-driving cabs on the road by mid-2019 Tech Uber
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