Google veterans go it alone to make self-driving trucks

A group of former Google, Apple, and Tesla employees (among others) have come together to form a new company called Otto which has the goal of retrofitting commercial trucks into self-driving freight carriers. Otto will supply $30k hardware kits for existing truck models, and the aim is for the self-driving vehicles to initially focus on highway driving (which obviously accounts for the majority of trucking routes), with humans still taking responsibility for driving on suburban roads, as well as loading and unloading. The company is currently testing its product on mid-sized Volvo trucks, but ultimately hopes to work with Class 8 trucks, which are the largest in America.

The trucking industry is ready for revolution. Autonomous trucks aren't as sexy as driverless cars, but they could have a bigger impact on our lives. Within years, they could make the roads safer, the air cleaner, and deliveries cheaper.

All of this is closer than you think. Last year, Daimler unveiled the world’s first autonomous semi. Volvo is working with Europe's Project Sartre to develop road trains where a caravan of robo-trucks follows a leader.

The effort makes sense when you consider that trucks carry around 70 percent of the freight that transported across the US, and demand is growing. But shiny new trucks like the Daimler's autonomous Freightliner will a long time to penetrate the market. Daimler says that won't start happening until about 2025, meaning the 3.46 million big-rigs already on US roads aren't getting any smarter anytime soon.

That's why a new startup is developing a $30,000 kit that can make any truck built since 2013 autonomous. Otto, which comes out of hiding today, is led by Anthony Levandowski, who worked at Google on Streetview and mapping, and Lior Ron, who was the Google Maps Product Lead. They’re moving fast---the company launched in January and has about 40 employees nicked from Apple, Tesla, and Cruise, the autonomous startup GM recently bought for $1 billion.

Otto's kit will allow trucks handle themselves on the highway, safely keeping within a lane, maintaining a set speed, and slowing or stopping as necessary. The company says it has demonstrated its technology on two vehicles on Interstate 5 and Highway 101 in California with minimal human intervention. Like Daimler's rig, the trucks do not change lanes by themselves, they just slow down and caravan behind other slow movers (good news for anyone who's been stuck behind one slow truck passing a slightly slower truck).