The future’s here, at least for beer: Self-driving truck delivers Bud

Uber-owned Otto hauls 2,000 cases for Anheuser-Busch.

by robot is a relatively new idea — and a potentially controversial one, given the possibility that robots could one day replace human drivers.

“We think this technology is inching closer to commercial availability,” Lior Ron, SAN FRANCISCO — The futurco-founder of Otto, said in ists of Silicon Valley may not an interview. have seen this one coming: In August, Uber acquired The first commercial delivOtto, a San Francisco startup ery made by a self-driving run by a number of veterans of truck was 2,000 cases of BudGoogle’s long-running autonweiser beer. omous vehicle research.

On Tuesday, Otto, the UberThough largely symbolic, owned self-driving vehicle the beer delivery marks the operation, announced the fifirst commercial partnership completion of its fifirst comfor Otto, which was founded mercial delivery, having delivless than a year ago. Terms ered its beer load from Fort of the deal between Otto and Collins, Colo., to Colorado Anheuser-Busch InBev, which Springs, a roughly 120-mile owns the Budweiser brand, trip on Interstate 25. were not disclosed.

In recent years, Uber has “We’ve tested with trailers, predicted a future in which of course, but there’s nothing you can ride in a self-driving like actually doing the real car that will take you where thing, end to end,” Ron said. you want to go, no driver necThe delivery was indicative essary. But the idea that comof Uber’s larger ambitions to mercial trucking could be done become an enormous trans- portation net work, one in which the company is responsible for moving anything, like people, hot meals or beer, around the globe, at all hours and as effifficiently as possible. Travis Kalanick, Uber’s chief executive, has said he envisions a future in which transportation will use manned and unmanned vehicles.

Otto is a particularly large bet for Uber, which paid nearly $700 million for the startup only a few months after the company started publicly discussing its self-driving-truck ambitions.

Since backing offff its money-burning effort to dominate the Chinese ride-hailing market in August, Uber has invested more time and resources to focus on breaking into the trucking market. Annual trucking industry revenue topped $720 billion in 2015, according to Americ an Trucking Association estimates.

A good part of that total came from top brands that rely heavily on the trucking industry to transport their goods. Anheuser-Busch, for example, delivers more than a million truckloads of beer domestically every year.

“We view self-driving trucks as the future, and we want to be a part of that,” said James Sembrot, senior director of logistics strategy at Anheuser-Busch.

Although the delivery went smoothly, the two companies did not indicate whether there would be any further deals.

For thi s initial delivery, Otto’s truck departed Anheuser-Busch’s facility in Loveland, Colo., in the early morning before reaching the interstate in Fort Collins. The truck drove through Denver — alongside regular passenger car traffiffic — and navigated to its destination in Colorado Springs without incident.

Otto said a trained driver was in the cabin of the truck to take over if necessary.