Fort Collins Budweiser sets record for driverless beer run

A stocked Budweiser truck left the Fort Collins brewery without a driver back in October.

When the self-navigating vehicle arrived in Colorado Springs 131.99 miles later, not a single human being had taken the wheel at any point of the police-escorted journey.

The venture down Interstate 25 has been added to the Guinness World Records for the longest continuous journey by a driverless and autonomous lorry — a British term for semi truck. The record was confirmed by the American Transportation Research Institute.

The feat was achieved by the Uber-owned tech company Ottomotto LLC. The truck nicknamed Otto hauled 51,744 cans.

The Colorado Department of Transportation worked with Otto for a number of months on test runs before agreeing to let the truck run without a driver.

The Fort Collins Budweiser brewery produces more beer than all of the city's craft breweries combined. The site, which is getting $28.9 million upgrades this year, previously created the popular wheat beer Shock Top.

The facility opened in 1988 as Fort Collins' first brewery. It ships beer across the country but primarily brews for Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Idaho and Alaska.

Parent company ABInBev has about 1,500 Colorado employees — which, in addition to employees at the Fort Collins brewery, includes beer supply and distribution operations in Windsor, Loveland, Denver and Littleton. The company has about 17,000 U.S. employees scattered throughout 49 states.

Another world record

Fort Collins is also in the Guinness World Records for hosting the largest single venue motorcycle poker run on May 26, 2013. The fundraiser organized by Realities for Children hosted 1,494 participants.

Follow Jacob Laxen on Twitter and Instagram: @jacoblaxen