Uber acquires Otto and its artificial intelligence for autonomous vehicles

Uber autonomous carThe group Uber Technologies is closely interested in the development of autonomous vehicles with the idea of ​​creating fleets of driverless cars that will be able to criss-cross cities almost tirelessly and facilitate the movement of people.

Rather than using third-party technologies being created, the Californian group seems determined to create its own solutions that it can adapt according to its specific needs. It therefore invests heavily in various fields, artificial intelligence systems cartography.

In this logic, Uber has just announced the takeover for $ 680 million from the startup Otto, founded by former Google employees and which aims to be the first company to offer an autonomous commercial driving system focusing on heavy goods vehicles and trucks.

OttomottoThe idea is to relieve the driver of the driving phase on the major axes. In this configuration, where heavy goods vehicles stay on their track as on a "rail", artificial intelligence will have much less traffic elements to take into account compared to urban traffic.

As a result, the Otto system could obtain the authorizations necessary for its marketing more quickly than necessarily more complex consumer solutions. Autonomous driving could therefore start concretely with the heavyweight.

As part of the Otto acquisition, co-founder Anthony Levandowski will join Uber and oversee the Californian group's efforts on autonomous vehicles.

At the same time, Uber signed a $ 300 million agreement with Volvo to co-develop autonomous vehicles that can be used for taxi services or offered to the general public.

It's the big SUV Volvo XC90 which should serve as a starting platform for this joint development on autonomous vehicles.