Despite radical advances in technology, many companies still plan routes for their delivery trucks the same way they did a decade ago. Managers create itineraries the day before, and then hand printouts to drivers to follow or add them to the hand-held devices that their drivers carry at their hip. But when drivers get stuck in traffic jams while on their rounds, they're simply out of luck and behind schedule. The same thing happens if there's a surprise snowstorm that makes roads impassable. In short, the routes are inflexible.

Artificial intelligence is no longer the sole domain of tech companies like Google, Facebook, IBM, and Amazon. Recognizing the potential of exponential technologies like AI and bots, creative agencies like Ogilvy and consulting firms like McKinsey and Accenture now proudly feature AI departments. The message to brands executives is clear: understand and leverage trends in automation and artificial intelligence, or perish. According to McKinsey's Michael Chiu, "As many as 45 percent of the activities individuals are paid to perform can be automated by adapting currently demonstrated technologies. In the United States, these activities represent about $2 trillion in annual wages."

When Liz Wessel was a sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania, she received an unexpected email that would help shape her career, even if she didn't know it at the time. The message didn't come from a professor or advisor, though. It came from beverage giant Anheuser-Busch. The company wanted Wessel to be a campus ambassador, a role that involved promoting its mechanical engineering openings to fellow students. "I thought it was crazy that Anheuser-Busch needed a sophomore to help them with hiring mechanical engineering students for their full time jobs," she says.

Artificial intelligence is no longer the sole domain of tech companies like Google, Facebook, IBM, and Amazon. Recognizing the potential of exponential technologies like AI and bots, creative agencies like Ogilvy and consulting firms like McKinsey and Accenture now proudly feature AI departments. The message to brands executives is clear: understand and leverage trends in automation and artificial intelligence, or perish. According to McKinsey's Michael Chiu, "As many as 45 percent of the activities individuals are paid to perform can be automated by adapting currently demonstrated technologies. In the United States, these activities represent about $2 trillion in annual wages."

Uber-owned Otto partners with Anheuser-Busch to successfully test self-driving truck technology in Colorado. SAN FRANCISCO -- If you're sipping a Budweiser somewhere in Colorado Springs, you just might have a robot to thank for that thirst-quenching brew. Last week, self-driving truck start-up Otto teamed with Anheuser-Busch to successfully deliver a semi-tractor full of beer from Fort Collins, through Denver and on to the southern Colorado city in the shadow of Pikes Peak. For the majority of that 120-mile trip, the truck's driver left his seat and observed the road from the comfort of the sleeper berth. An Otto video of the drive shows the slightly disconcerting image of a massive 53-foot trailer filled with 2,000 cases of Bud rumbling down I-25 with no human in the cab.

Uber-owned Otto partners with Anheuser-Busch to successfully test self-driving truck technology in Colorado. SAN FRANCISCO -- If you're sipping a Budweiser somewhere in Colorado Springs, Colo., you just might have a robot to thank for that thirst-quenching brew. Last week, self-driving truck start-up Otto teamed with Anheuser-Busch to successfully deliver a semi-tractor full of beer from Fort Collins, through Denver and on to the southern Colorado city in the shadow of Pikes Peak. For the majority of that 120-mile trip, the truck's driver left his seat and observed the road from the comfort of the sleeper berth. An Otto video of the drive shows the slightly disconcerting image of a massive 53-foot trailer filled with 2,000 cases of Bud rumbling down I-25 with no human in the cab.

Uber-owned Otto partners with Anheuser-Busch to successfully test self-driving truck technology in Colorado. A link has been sent to your friend's email address. Uber-owned Otto partners with Anheuser-Busch to successfully test self-driving truck technology in Colorado.

Otto, the self-driving truck company owned by Uber, recently completed what it claims was the first commercial delivery by a self-driving vehicle. A truck outfitted with Otto's autonomous driving technology shipped a truckload of Budweiser beer from Fort Collins, Co. to Colorado Springs, a distance of about 120 miles. Otto says the truck drove hands-free from exit to exit, though a human driver was in the cab for local streets and to take over in case of an emergency. Other Otto vehicles pre-mapped the route ahead of time, which followed Colorado's I-25. Some naysayers may consider that cheating, but it highlights an advantage of self-driving trucking fleets: As one such vehicle travels along a particular route, it can send mapping and other data to vehicles behind it as a helpful status update.

Uber-owned Otto partners with Anheuser-Busch to successfully test self-driving truck technology in Colorado. Otto, the self-driving truck startup bought by Uber, recently teamed with Anheuser-Busch to successfully deliver a truck-load of beer to Colorado Springs without involvement from a driver for the highway stretches of the 120-mile trip. SAN FRANCISCO -- If you're sipping a Budweiser somewhere in Colorado Springs, Colo., you just might have a robot to thank for that thirst-quenching brew. Last week, self-driving truck start-up Otto teamed with Anheuser-Busch to successfully deliver a semi-tractor full of beer from Fort Collins, through Denver and on to the southern Colorado city in the shadow of Pikes Peak. For the majority of that 120-mile trip, the truck's driver left his seat and observed the road from the comfort of the sleeper berth.