UPDATED: Send the Robot on a Beer Run: What Uber’s Debut Driverless Truck Means for the Transportation Industry

UPDATED 2/24/17:

Uber and Otto’s attempt to advance driverless technology has hit a major snag, as Waymo, a self-driving company owned by Alphabet, has filed a lawsuit against the duo, claiming patent infringement. The suit alleges that Otto’s founder, Anthony Levandowski, a former manager with Waymo , along with several other former employees, divulged trade secrets that were their intellectual property. These formed the basis of Otto’s work with Uber in the field of automated driving technology, and, if proven true, could mean a major setback in their further rollout of it.

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Considering that it has been used to both cheer a celebratory moment, as well drown one’s sorrows, it is fitting that beer was the cargo for the first successful shipment completed by driverless truck—a groundbreaking achievement that has professionals in the transportation industry incredibly excited as well as extremely nervous. The potential cost-saving and safety benefits that self-driving vehicles present do little to ease fears amongst truckers that this technology could put them out of work.

The ground was broken on this new phase for commercial trucking (long thought to be the most viable automotive venture for full automation) this past Tuesday, when Uber partnered with Anheuser-Busch Cos., as well as the state of Colorado, in order to deliver 51,744 cans of Budweiser to clients across the state. Uber, the San Francisco-based company most synonymous with the new ‘sharing economy’, has long been working on self-driving technology, most recently upping their stake with the purchase of Otto, a start-up that specializes in that field. It was Otto who oversaw this recent test, and from their end, things couldn’t have gone any smoother: their truck made the journey with almost no human intervention.

That ‘almost’ is important: although the truck traveled from exit-to-exit along Colorado’s 120-mile Interstate 25 with no one in the driver’s seat, there was a driver monitoring the Otto system from the sleeper berth in the back of the vehicle, as well as taking over duties once it was off the highway. The driverless technology is to yet ready for more complex areas, such as urban and suburban neighborhoods, what with their varying cross sections of stops signals and signs, speed limits, crossings, and high pedestrian foot traffic.

Still, the beer run this last week has investors and executives eagerly anticipating what driverless trucking could mean to their bottom line. Through its system of camera and sensor controls, self-driving commercial trucks—which would spend the vast majority of their time on highways and freeways—would cut down significantly on human error, thus potentially saving millions on utilization and fuel costs, to say nothing of damage and fatalities.

There lies the rub: cutting down on human error may involve cutting out the human element altogether. One-third of the cost of commercial trucking goes towards drivers. Despite assurances from executives that truckers would not be completely replaced, it would be naive to assume there aren’t those in the industry who would like to see the technology eliminate the need for them altogether. The profit motive is simply too great to pretend otherwise. This has, understandably, led many of the 1.7 million commercial truck drivers employed in the US, as well as labor leaders and some economists, to speak out against what they see as the inevitable havoc this advancement in technology will wreak on their livelihood, as well as the jobs economy as a whole.

For as grounded in reality as these concerns are, there is not yet reason to sound the alarms. Driverless technology will continue to advance, but it is a long ways yet from becoming significantly implemented. As previously mentioned, the tech is not yet ready to handle more complex locations, confining these systems, for the time being, to highways. Even if they were ready to handle city streets, a person would still need to be present in order to complete the other steps involved in the delivery process. This is to say nothing of the risks that would arise should a driverless truck hit a setback, including one as mundane as a flat tire. No shipper would be comfortable with their cargo sitting unattended for what could be hours at a time. It would seem that, as driverless tech continues to advance, drivers will still be necessary, even if they only spend a fraction of their time behind the wheel.

There are a few other factors that, when combined, make it seem like full driverless automation isn’t likely to happen any time soon. The price of the technology and its implementation is still too costly for most transportation companies, state and federal regulations aren’t anywhere near set in place, and the public has not yet accepted a world where they would be sharing the road with driverless vehicles. Those in the trucking industry worried about losing their jobs to a faceless computer system shouldn’t be losing any sleep just yet, nor should those who see driverless trucking as the inevitable wave of the future start counting their eggs before they’ve hatched. But, as the Otto delivery this past week has shown, driverless trucks are coming, and it is the responsibility of everyone in the shipping and transportation industries to make ready for them.