Uber isn’t satisfied with just ferrying the populace from Point A to Point B across the city. It wants to do a lot more to further build out a shared economy, while also advancing its driverless autonomous technology. But, there’s another challenge which excites Uber CEO Travis Kalanick and he has decided to simplify the long-haul trucking business — Uber Freight.
Kalanick has already talked about the same in an interview (via Business Insider):
It is a challenging, interesting, nuanced business, and it is going to be intense getting into it, but that’s exciting to me.
There is currently not much information about the company’s efforts with regards to the same, but Kalanick shared an image of what appears to be the first ‘Uber Freight’ truck. These words are stenciled along the sides of the long truck, which is standing in a deserted parking lot. The photograph was shared by him in a tweet, attached right here:
So much great stuff going on! #uberfreight pic.twitter.com/OIz1ED6AGl
— travis kalanick (@travisk) May 8, 2017
The ride-hailing giant is already known to be the leader at moving people and food but is now getting into the trucking business. It has already set up a new division called ‘Uber Freight and is building on the assets and technology which had come bundled with the $650 acquisition of self-driving truck startup Otto. But, the company isn’t planning to go the autonomous way from the very start.
Uber Freight will initially be a spin-off the existing Uber business, where shippers will be able to book their space within a truck via the app provided by the company. They would no longer have to contact the middleman, who then contact several truck drivers to get you the best price for your shipment. Uber Freight will be a marketplace and offer real-time pricing of how much you will have to spend to move your real-estate. It will be dependent on the supply and demand for the movement of goods across the country.
As for the self-driving efforts, Uber Freight has already completed its first autonomous delivery last year. The company packed over 50,000 cans of Budweiser in an 18-wheeler truck that drive itself from Loveland, Colorado to Colorado Springs. Uber’s autonomous truck drove at an average speed of 55 miles per hour and the whole drive passed without any hitch. A state trooper was even following the truck to monitor progress. It was a truck similar to the one shown in the photograph above.
But, the company’s efforts in the self-driving space are currently in jeopardy. Uber has been embroiled in a patent infringement battle against Alphabet’s spin-off self-driving division Waymo. The latter has accused the former of building its self-driving sensors based on their technology that was brought to Uber by former Googler Anthony Levandowski. He is the co-founder of self-driving truck startup Otto, which is at the center of the lawsuit and has been termed as a front to transfer tech to the ride-hailing giant.
He was leading the ride-hailing giant’s ATG in the United States but has stepped down from his position for alleged confidential data theft charges — that too about 14,000 filed or total 9.7GB. Now, it’s trying to block Uber’s present self-driving efforts — which haven’t been going according to plan. The federal judge has heard both sides but a conclusive decision is yet to be reached.
