Popular ride service Uber has purchased Otto for an undisclosed amount, months after the self-driving truck business had its own public launch.
Otto was founded by several Google veterans, including Anthony Levandowski, who formerly worked as an engineer for the notable search engine's Self-Driving Car Project. The deal, which is reportedly about $680 million, sees both Uber and Otto team up to improve the quality of trucking as well as safety while driving around the highway.
"Together with Uber, we will create the future of commercial transportation: first, self-driving trucks that provide drivers unprecedented levels of safety; and second, a platform that matches truck drivers with the right load wherever they are," Otto officially noted in a statement that was posted yesterday, according to Top Tech News.
We took a video tour of a self-driving semi from Otto, Uber’s newest purchase https://t.co/x8MaLGizJT pic.twitter.com/h3xMZkabtx
— Recode (@Recode) August 23, 2016
Travis Kalanick, the co-founder and CEO of Uber, on the other hand, said in a blog post that both Uber and Otto are a "dream team" when it comes to this particular cutting-edge technology pile. He also cited some statistics that showed human error is what causes the killing of 90 percent of the one million people in collisions on a daily basis.
Meanwhile, Uber has also formed an alliance with Volvo Car Group, reportedly worth $300 million, to establish more self-driving cars. The deal will allow the former to put together resources with the Swedish car manufacturer and the investments will be equally split between the two global car companies.
The goal of the two companies is to create a fully-formed self-driving vehicle by the year 2021. Uber will team up with other car makers over time, but it will not be creating its own set of vehicles.
The ride service company will purchase Volvos and place them on its own control system, while some Volvos will be linked to a few Ford Motor Co (F.N) Fusion sedans, which will be utilized to build the pilot program that fuses ride-hailing and self-driving in Pittsburg, according to Reuters.
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