GONNA PUT A LOT OF HOOKERS OUT OF WORK:

A truck is a means to get cargo from point A to point B. A truck is a home, a job, a frequent guest in small towns that straddle highways, a way of life, and the beating heart of several supporting industries, all designed to keep the truck and its human pilot running. A truck is expenses, a breakable machine controlled by a fallible human, subject to labor laws and rules about interstate commerce. A truck is all of those things, and it may soon be a robot, too.

Uber, the technology company (which, because of its ride-hailing app, functions a lot like a transportation company) launched Uber Freight on Monday night. The minimalist website features a gentle clip, filmed from above, of an 18-wheeler driving on a green hillside. There's a place for carriers and shippers to give their email addresses to Uber, and links for media to contact the company. It doesn't reveal much.

Fortunately, we already know a little about Uber's freight launch, because its first autonomous truck delivered a load of cargo last week. The cargo was a load of beer, and the vehicle was operated by Uber's self-driving division Otto (almost certainly a groan-worthy play on "autonomous"). The truck departed Fort Collins, Colorado and drove 120 miles south to Colorado Springs on I-25, the main artery that connects the two cities through Denver and links much of the mountain west.

"It's like a train on software rails," said Anthony Levandowski, co-founder of Otto. "When you see a vehicle with nobody in it, you know it's very unlikely to get in a collision."

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