Why Self-Driving Trucks May Be the Next Big Thing on the Road

On Interstate 280 outside San Francisco, towering white Volvo semitrucks have been driving themselves around for months–under the careful supervision of humans in the cab. Otto, a startup founded by automation experts eager to get their inventions out of the lab and onto the road, has been working to reinvent commercial trucking since it was founded in January. And in August, ride-sharing giant Uber announced it was acquiring Otto and its 91 employees in a deal worth an estimated 680 million. One fresh shake-up keeps following another among companies that have promised to sell self-driving vehicles and services. Along with the Otto buy, Uber revealed that customers would be able to summon autonomous rides in Pittsburgh by September.