With the acquisition of
start-up Otto, to enter the freight transport market. Otto, a developer of potentially
self-driving lorries, has already announced that it also intends to
. Uber will act as a broker for transport services in this regard.
From 2017, Otto plans to start
for other companies, offered via Uber’s service. There is
significant profit to be made here, as, according to Otto, it currently takes far too long
before suitable transport can be found for a load. Uber hopes that
this service to shake up the transport sector, which is worth around 700 billion dollars a year. In doing so, it will be competing with companies such as XPO Logistics and C.H. Robinson.
According to critics, Uber will not have an easy time of it when entering the market.
“The model that Uber used to transform the taxi industry cannot
not simply be applied to the freight transport market,” transport analyst
Jack Atkins told VentureBeat. “Companies are cautious when it comes to transporting their cargo.
It’s not as simple as with taxi journeys, where a consumer needs to be taken from point A
to point B.”
Otto has already announced that
it will soon be expanding its fleet of potentially self-learning lorries
from six to fifteen lorries. It also intends to implement its technology in competitors’ lorries. Otto’s self-driving technology is currently still very much
under development. The lorries are reportedly already capable of driving autonomously on motorways
. However, a driver is present at all times. Manoeuvring on public
roads remains a challenge, according to Otto. The lorries are currently being driven around with a load
to investigate how they respond to weight.
Image: Otto
