A new startup company called "Otto," composed of 40 former employees from giant tech and car companies such as Google and Tesla, is aiming to expand commercial autonomous driving to big-rig trucks. The startup is based in San Francisco, and some of its most prominent figures include Anthony Levandowski, who worked as part of Google's self-driving team and Lior Ron, who was the former lead behind Google Maps.
The goal of the startup is to introduce freight haulers that will be fully automated into the commercial scene, much like what Mercedes-Benz is doing in Europe. Instead of creating self-driving trucks from scratch, "Otto" will provide businesses with self-driving kits that can be installed in existing trucks. This is potentially cheaper for the trucking companies and easier to implement for the startup.
The challenges that "Otto" is facing right now include finding partners for the manufacturing process and the typical moral problem of truck drivers losing their jobs once the automation process takes place. However, the startup states that the self-driving features of the trucks would only be in effect on highways at the moment. Actual drivers would still be needed to navigate city streets as well as to handle the loading and unloading of goods.
The startup has already tested their self-driving technology with three trucks from Volvo, clocking in more than 10,000 miles in the process. One of its founders, Anthony Levandowski actually started out as an owner of another startup company focused on self-driving technology before Google acquired it. When asked why he left the tech giant, he explained that he wanted to see self-driving technology applied in the real-world right away.
"Google is very focused on doing what they're doing and I felt that it was time to see something come to market and I really liked the idea of bringing trucks to market," he said.
