By MIKE ISAACAUG. 18, 2016, WRITING FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

SAN FRANCISCO — Uber, the world’s largest ride-hailing network, has long envisioned a future of self-driving cars. Now that future could extend to the trucking industry.

On Thursday, Uber announced it had acquired Otto, a 90-person start-up focused on developing self-driving truck technology that aims to upend the trucking and shipping industry.

“More and more the world of atoms is interacting with bits,” Travis Kalanick, chief executive of Uber, said in a company blog post announcing the deal. “In order to provide digital services in the physical world, we must build sophisticated logistics, artificial intelligence and robotics systems that serve and elevate humanity.”