Google veterans head off on their own to work on self-driving trucks

Former employees of Google, Apple, Tesla, Cruise Automation, and others -- 40 people in total -- have formed a new San Francisco-based company called Otto with the goal of turning commercial trucks into self-driving freight haulers. Prominent staffers include former Google Maps lead Lior Ron and Anthony Levandowski of Google's self-driving car team. Rather than building their own trucks, Otto is hoping to make hardware kits for existing truck models that would either be installed by service centers, or possibly at the factory if the company is able to forge manufacturer partnerships. Unlike Google's self-driving car project, Otto would at least initially focus on highway driving, which account for the overwhelming majority of a typical truck route; the human drivers would still handle surface streets, loading, unloading, and the like. Right now, the company is testing with the Volvo VNL 780, but hopes to work with many so-called Class 8 trucks, which are the largest, heaviest trucks on American roads. If the name Anthony Levandowski sounds familiar, there's a good reason: his work on autonomous driving pre-dates Google's, and he served as the central character in a sprawling profile of the self-driving car project in The New Yorker several years ago.