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Uber Shows Off Latest Autonomous Truck Design

Uber’s Advanced Technologies Group has released a video of its latest autonomous heavy-duty truck design, shown operating on the streets of San Francisco.

by Staff
July 6, 2017
Uber Shows Off Latest Autonomous Truck Design

 

2 min to read


Uber’s Advanced Technologies Group has released a video of its latest autonomous heavy-duty truck design, shown operating on the streets of San Francisco.

The truck features new sensors and upgraded components, including a new spinning 64-channel lidar design, according to a report by TechCrunch. The new lidar (light detection and ranging) sensor design appears to be an off-the-shelf part and not designed in-house. A company spokesperson told TechCrunch that the new lidar was not related to the design that is the subject of a lawsuit between Google-sister company Waymo and Uber.

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The 64-channel lidar design is a more advanced design than what was previously shown in demos and should provide better sensor data to the self-driving software.

Notably, Uber’s self-driving trucks no longer feature the Otto branding, which was retired in May and was consolidated under the Uber ATG business unit.  

Otto was a separate autonomous trucking startup that was acquired by Uber for $680 million in August of last year. Since that time, Otto founder Anthony Levandowski has been at the center of the legal battle between Waymo and Uber.

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Waymo has accused Uber of stealing the designs to its lidar sensor system when Levandowski, who was a former Google employee, allegedly downloaded crucial information about the system to use on his Otto trucks.

The suit is still ongoing, but as a result, Levandowski was forced to step down from his position with Uber ATG and was later fired.

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