A self-driving tractor-trailer carried a load of Budweiser beer more than 120 miles to Colorado Springs from Fort Collins last week in what Anheuser-Busch says was the world’s first commercial shipment by an autonomous vehicle.
“This milestone marks the first time in history that a self-driving vehicle has shipped commercial cargo, making it a landmark achievement for self-driving technology, the state of Colorado, and the transportation industry,” the brewer said on Tuesday.
The test — engineered by A-B, Uber-owned self-driving truck maker Otto, and state transportation officials — also marked “a monumental step forward in advancing safety solutions that will help Colorado move towards zero deaths on our roads,” Colorado Department of Transportation chief Shailen Bhatt said in a news release.
Self-driving technology has been advanced as a solution to problems with highway congestion and safety on the nation’s highways, with experts suggesting that a computer controlled vehicle drives more more consistently than a human-piloted auto and without distractions.
Anheuser-Busch says the truck was loaded with beer at its Loveland warehouse and officially began its journey Thursday a few miles away, at the Fort Collins Port of Entry. From a sleeper berth in the cab, a driver monitored the trip down Interstate 25 as the truck navigating through central Denver, over Monument Hill and into Colorado Springs — but never took the wheel.
“As we continue to partner with long-haul carriers to ship our beers, we hope to see this technology widely deployed across our highways to improve safety for all road users and work towards a low-emissions future,” A-B’s senior director for logistics strategy James Sembro said in a statement.
