Uber acquired the self-driving truck company Otto in 2016.
Otto was founded in early 2016 by Anthony Levandowski, Lior Ron, Don Burnette, and Claire Delaunay, a group with experience in autonomous-vehicle and mapping technology. The startup focused on retrofitting commercial trucks with systems that could automate highway driving rather than building a conventional passenger-car service.
Uber announced the acquisition in August 2016. Otto became part of Uber’s autonomous-vehicle effort, with Lior Ron helping lead the combined trucking program. Reports valued the transaction at roughly $680 million, though the exact structure involved Uber stock and other terms.
The deal is also tied to Uber’s later legal dispute with Waymo over alleged technology theft involving Levandowski. That controversy can make the timeline confusing, but it does not change the acquisition year. The other listed years—2015, 2017, and 2018—do not match Uber’s Otto transaction.