Ex-Googlers’ self-driving kit for commercial trucks takes over on freeways
While Google, Tesla and BMW race to develop their own autonomous vehicles, a startup created by four ex-Google engineers is inching closer to launching a self-driving kit that can be retrofitted onto any commercial truck. The idea isn’t to put human drivers out of work. Instead, Otto’s autonomous system augments their ability to cover long distances by kicking in only on freeways, which account for just 5 percent of all roads in the US. Co-founder Lior Ron, who is a former Google Maps product lead, told Backchannel: Trucks cover 5.6 percent of all highway miles but cause 9.5 percent of…
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