Ex-Google employees found self-driving truck company

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Autoblog  /  May 17, 2016

Self-driving cars are very much a part of the future of tech, with Google, Uber, Apple and plenty of other top names working to develop autonomous vehicles. But what about trucks? That's where Otto is aiming to shape the future.

Founded by former Google employees Anthony Levandowski, Lior Ron, Don Burnette, and Claire Delaunay, Otto wants to "rethink" the commercial trucking industry.

In a Medium post, Levandowski, who lead Google's self-driving car efforts, and Ron, formerly with Google Maps and Motorola, explained that not only do trucks account for an oversized slice of pollution in the U.S. — 28 percent of road pollution despite making up just one percent of all traffic, they claim — but they cause a large number of fatalities, are inefficient and, to top it off, there's an increasing shortage of drivers. That creates the perfect storm for a tech-based solution, Otto's founders believe.

Otto started out with tools to help truck drivers perform their job with increased safety, but now it is working on technology that, in time, can automate parts of the drive on highways.

Unlike others, which are designing new vehicles that drive autonomously, Otto focuses on technology that can be fitted into trucks that are on the road now. Rather than eradicating drivers by making them obsolete, the immediate goal is assistance. The duo told Backchannel that, among many things, they aim to let drivers safely take a sleep break while leaving their truck driving autonomously.

The company said it has already completed one public highway demo of its system, and it is hatching grander plans beyond that.

"We intend to enhance the capabilities of the Otto truck, collect safety data to demonstrate its benefits, and bring this technology to every corner of the U.S. highway system," Levandowski and Lior wrote.

Otto's team of 40 includes many former Googlers, as you might expect, and other staffers have worked at Tesla, HERE, Apple, Cruise, and various automobile companies.The company has lurked under the radar before its unveiling today — many of its staff haven't updated their LinkedIn profiles with their new roles, for example — and there will be many questions about it, such as which investors are bankrolling it.

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Ex-Google Engineers Form Startup to Develop Kit for Autonomous Driving Trucks

Transport Topics  /  May 17, 2016

Otto, a startup led by former Google engineers, is working on getting the millions of trucks already on the road to drive themselves.

Founded by former Google engineers with employees from Tesla and Amazon, the San Francisco-based company is developing an autonomous driving aftermarket kit for trucks. The firm already has several trucks on the road testing the technology.

“We are developing a suite of sensors, software and truck enhancements coming together in a product that can be quickly outfitted on existing trucks," the company wrote on its website. "Testing the technology is currently underway on highways with our research fleet, and we recently completed an autonomous demo of the technology on a public highway.”

The company finished the first extensive test of its trucks May 14-15 on public highways in Nevada, where the state’s regulations allow the autonomous technology for big-rigs, the Associated Press reported.

“We intend to enhance the capabilities of the Otto truck, collect safety data to demonstrate its benefits and bring this technology to every corner of the U.S. highway system,” the company said. Otto is looking for 1,000 volunteer professional truck drivers to have the kits installed on their cabs, at no cost to them, to help fine-tune the technology.

“To speed the adoption of self-driving technology, we began by equipping existing trucks on the road with our unique self-driving kit, designed to empower truck drivers to drive more safely and efficiently,” Otto said.