The return of the driverless beer run

October 7, 2022

John Bendel

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What is it with beer and driverless trucks?

According to the American Journal of Transportation, trucks equipped with self-driving tech from Waymo LLC have been hauling beer from Houston to Dallas since April – with a safety driver at the wheel, of course.

The latest driverless beer news comes almost exactly six years after the first beer-hauling event made news around the world. Then, a self-driving truck hauled a load of Budweiser beer – 51,744 cans – about 120 miles across Colorado, from Fort Collins to Colorado Springs. It was only one time and one load, but it got tons of publicity.

The big day was Oct. 20, 2016. The load on a Budweiser-marked trailer was pulled by a Volvo tractor that had been modified by Otto, a San Francisco technology startup that was owned by Uber.

The so-called “safety” driver drove the truck onto I-25 and then climbed out of the driver’s seat and retired to the sleeper, where he could clearly be seen reading a magazine. The Volvo rolled down I-25 at a steady 55 mph for two hours with no one behind the wheel. Then the “safety” driver got back in the seat and piloted the truck off the Interstate and to its destination.

Had anything unusual happened – an accident, for example – the “safety” driver in the sleeper would have been of no use at all. A sudden stop would have propelled him through the windshield. But nothing did happen. Handsome photos and videos spread around the world, and a new era seemed to have begun.

The driverless beer run photos and videos were carefully shot. Most did not show the two tow trucks sent ahead to clear any parked cars nor the four Colorado state patrol cars and three vehicles from Otto that surrounded the Otto truck.

It was less a demonstration than a publicity stunt. But the shiny public image it created rusted and pitted quickly in a scandal involving Otto owner Uber and Waymo, formerly known as the Google self-driving car project. The Google initiative had been headed by an engineer named Anthony Levandowski.

From subterfuge to best buds?

Levandowski quit Waymo in 2016 to co-found Otto, which was purchased by Uber six months later. Waymo sued Levandowski and Uber claiming that before he left Waymo, Levandowski had downloaded 14,000 confidential files – including trade secrets. Federal prosecutors investigated and charged Levandowski with theft. He admitted to the charges in exchange for an 18-month prison sentence but was pardoned by President Trump before actually serving any time.

Meanwhile, the civil case between Uber and Waymo dragged on until February 2022, when it was finally settled. In all that legal back and forth, they must have fallen in love. In June, Uber and Waymo announced a sparkling new partnership. The companies say they’re developing self-driving technology for possible use by the carrier customers of Uber Freight.

What? From six years of litigation to best buddies in four months?

But the relationship is not exclusive. Uber isn’t Waymo’s only partner. Also this February, Waymo announced a partnership with mega broker C.H. Robinson, and now the two companies are hauling Modelo and Corona beer across Texas.

Waymo’s beer run is low-profile compared to the Otto/Budweiser event. There are no police escorts, and it’s ongoing, at least according to the American Journal of Transportation website. Waymo and C.H. Robinson have hauled more than a million pounds of beer so far, and a Waymo guy said, “There were no harsh brakes or swerving events.”

Of course, you don’t need to brake or swerve if you simply drive through whatever’s in front of you.

And you have to wonder, if they’re shipping that much beer from Houston to Dallas, why don’t they just build a pipeline? That would be driverless, too. LL

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