The self-driving truck company Uber acquired in 2016 was Otto.
Otto, legally Ottomotto LLC, was founded in January 2016 by Anthony Levandowski, Lior Ron, Claire Delaunay, and Don Burnette. The San Francisco startup focused on retrofitting long-haul trucks with cameras, radar, and laser sensors instead of building an entirely new type of vehicle.
Uber acquired Otto in August 2016 in a deal reported at roughly $680 million. Otto remained associated with Uber’s autonomous-driving effort, and its founders and engineers became important figures in the company’s attempt to develop self-driving freight technology.
Otto attracted additional attention because Waymo sued Uber over allegations that Levandowski had taken confidential files before leaving Google’s self-driving project to help found Otto. Uber later retired the Otto name amid a trademark dispute, and in 2018 it shut down the self-driving truck project to concentrate on autonomous passenger vehicles.
“Otto” is the public-facing name; “Ottomotto” is the company’s legal name and the title of the more specific encyclopedia article.