clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile
Will you help keep Vox free? Vox's journalism is free, so that everyone can understand our world. Reader support helps us do that. Will you give today?

Filed under:

The first self-driving car you see may be an Uber truck on the highway

Up close with Otto and its $680 million autonomous tech.

By Peter Kafka
The cab interior of a self-driving truck as it drives on a highway Otto
Peter Kafka covers media and technology, and their intersection, at Vox. Many of his stories can be found in his Kafka on Media newsletter, and he also hosts the Recode Media podcast.

The first time you see a self-driving car, it may not be a car. It may be a semi-truck, speeding alongside you on the highway.

If that notion makes you flinch a bit, you’re not alone. But technologists who are betting on self-driving technology have a compelling argument that trucks + interstates are a natural early step for autonomous vehicles.

That’s one of the reasons Uber bought Otto, a brand-new self-driving truck startup, for $680 million last month.

You won’t see an Otto truck on the road today. But when and if you do, you may feel better knowing that company’s lineage traces back to Google’s self-driving car research.*

Another thing about self-driving trucks — they make for really cool videos. Here’s one generated from Otto’s own footage.

And here’s one featuring my colleague Mark Bergen, who got a close-up look at the trucks, and shared it live with Facebook.

* Google may feel less good about this.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

Will you support Vox’s explanatory journalism?

Most news outlets make their money through advertising or subscriptions. But when it comes to what we’re trying to do at Vox, there are a couple of big issues with relying on ads and subscriptions to keep the lights on:

First, advertising dollars go up and down with the economy. We often only know a few months out what our advertising revenue will be, which makes it hard to plan ahead.

Second, we’re not in the subscriptions business. Vox is here to help everyone understand the complex issues shaping the world — not just the people who can afford to pay for a subscription. We believe that’s an important part of building a more equal society. And we can’t do that if we have a paywall.

So even though advertising is still our biggest source of revenue, we also seek grants and reader support. (And no matter how our work is funded, we have strict guidelines on editorial independence.)

If you also believe that everyone deserves access to trusted high-quality information, will you make a gift to Vox today? Any amount helps.

Yes, I'll give $5/month

Next Up In Technology

The Latest

Why Gavin Newsom and Ron DeSantis are debating each other

By Li Zhou

What Henry Kissinger wrought

By Dylan Matthews

There are now more land mines in Ukraine than almost anywhere else on the planet

By Jen Kirby

There’s less meat at this year’s climate talks. But there’s plenty of bull.

By Kenny Torrella

The Supreme Court seeks a middle path between following the law and blowing up the government

By Ian Millhiser

Nikki Haley’s “rise” and the Republican flight from reality

By Zack Beauchamp