Apple's Self-Driving Electric Car Is At Least Half a Decade Away (bloomberg.com) 51
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: Apple will take at least half a decade to launch an autonomous, electric vehicle because development work is still at an early stage, according to people with knowledge of the efforts. The Cupertino, California-based technology giant has a small team of hardware engineers developing drive systems, vehicle interior and external car body designs with the goal of eventually shipping a vehicle. That's a more ambitious goal than in previous years when the project mostly focused on creating an underlying self-driving system. The company has also added more ex-Tesla Inc. executives to the project.
Still, some Apple engineers on the project believe the company could release a product in five to seven years if Apple goes ahead with its plans. The car is nowhere near production stage, the people said, though they did warn timelines could change. They asked not to be identified discussing sensitive, internal work. The majority of the team is currently either working from home or at the office for limited time, slowing the company's ability to develop a full vehicle. [...] Reuters recently reported that Apple is aiming to begin producing a car as early as 2024.
Still, some Apple engineers on the project believe the company could release a product in five to seven years if Apple goes ahead with its plans. The car is nowhere near production stage, the people said, though they did warn timelines could change. They asked not to be identified discussing sensitive, internal work. The majority of the team is currently either working from home or at the office for limited time, slowing the company's ability to develop a full vehicle. [...] Reuters recently reported that Apple is aiming to begin producing a car as early as 2024.
What are you talking about? (Score:5, Interesting)
OH, you are talking about the 100% completely speculative Apple car that has never been announced or even hinted at by anyone at Apple. That Apple Car?
Why would Apple ever consider getting into the Car business from scratch when they could just buy Toyota?
A car doesn't have to be self-driving (Score:2)
and the headline is "self-driving" and "autonomous". Why would anyone believe Apple would wait for full autonomy to enter the market?
"A key differentiator would be Apple’s ability to integrate its self-driving system, a pricey initiative that has spurred the company to develop its own software, sensor hardware and chip technologies. "
A "self-driving system" that won't exist for another half decade? Some "key differentiator"! This article is trash, to bad /. editors are so unqualified.
The article is trash, but Apple needs FSD (Score:1)
Why would anyone believe Apple would wait for full autonomy to enter the market?
They will 100% need this to enter the market, because otherwise it's just another car.
What Apple wants to do (speculation) is not just make another car, they want to totally re-work what a car is when there is no driver, ever. Because then they can totally change the interior.
Apple will deliver a car only when the inside is nothing like a car we know today, because it does not need to be. Otherwise there really not anything th
Apple invented it. (Score:1)
also, when they finally release it successfully in 2050, everybody will act as if Apple invented the electric car.
(see: ipods, iphones, etc.)
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Why would anyone believe Apple would wait for full autonomy to enter the market?
They will 100% need this to enter the market, because otherwise it's just another car.
Yes, because that would prevent Apple fans buying anything.
"It's just a normal turd, man, we all do them."
"No, no, no. THIS is an iTurd. Do your turds have the Apple logo on them? So it's not "just another turd"!"
Re: (Score:2)
They will 100% need this to enter the market, because otherwise it's just another car.
The iPhone is just another phone but that never stopped Apple fanatics from queuing for days to get one.
Re: (Score:1)
The iPhone is just another phone
Now it is just another phone, but when first released it was massively different.
I had friend who was a die-hard Windows Phone user, he laughed at me for going to get the first iPhone.
He had one a month later.
Re: (Score:2)
Sure, but that was a long time ago and people are still queueing around the block...
Re: (Score:2)
I would think the options for radical vehicle changes would be limited given that self driving doesn't change physics. I'd wager you'd still be required to have crash-resistant seating, seatbelts, airbags, and maybe even some kind of controls for manual driving. You can't get away with the wraparound sofa concept from the 1950s anymore, or skinny swivel chairs up front, etc.
Once you get done meeting safety, how much radical interior change can there be? Plus there's practical limits on vehicle size, which
Re: (Score:1)
I would think the options for radical vehicle changes would be limited given that self driving doesn't change physics.
True.
I'd wager you'd still be required to have crash-resistant seating, seatbelts, airbags
Yes but that can all take many different forms, when you don't have to have a traditional driver/passenger seat. You can have swivel seating so all occupants can face each other. You can have the primary seats be far in the rear, so if mostly two people are riding in the car they are even more protec
Re: (Score:2)
It makes no sense for Apple, an advanced technology company, to not include self driving in their car. They are a software company it should be breeze.
Re: What are you talking about? (Score:2)
As if Toyota ws stupid enough to join a slowly sinkng Titanic.
Re: (Score:2)
As if Toyota ws stupid enough to join a slowly sinkng Titanic.
Not Toyota.
They are reportedly working with Volkswagon to develop their prototypes. So if they're going to buy a car company, it would likely be VW, not Toyota.
Apple electric car project [wikipedia.org]
Re: (Score:2)
Yukk.
What does Toyota have? They are a zero on electric cars, and worse they hired visionless "can't do" people to run their self driving development division. People who said "I give up, self driving is impossible." I don't know if they hate their jobs or what.
Reference: https://spectrum.ieee.org/tran... [ieee.org]
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
You sound like a /. poster of the mid 2000s. “Oh, you mean that hypothetical Apple phone that has never been announced or even hinted at by anyone at Apple? Why would Apple do that when they’re already partnered with Motorola and can just sell an Apple-branded RAZR?”
Re: (Score:2)
You sound like a /. poster of the mid 2000s. “Oh, you mean that hypothetical Apple phone that has never been announced or even hinted at by anyone at Apple? Why would Apple do that when they’re already partnered with Motorola and can just sell an Apple-branded RAZR?”
Perfect.
A more interesting debate is perhaps, are fully autonomous (no steering wheel) cars even possible in our lifetimes?
Re: (Score:2)
You sound like a /. poster of the mid 2000s. “Oh, you mean that hypothetical Apple phone that has never been announced or even hinted at by anyone at Apple? Why would Apple do that when they’re already partnered with Motorola and can just sell an Apple-branded RAZR?”
Perfect.
A more interesting debate is perhaps, are fully autonomous (no steering wheel) cars even possible in our lifetimes?
I 100% think they are if they only drive on roads with other autonomous cars. Dealing with human drivers is the only reason we don’t already have them.
What we really need are trains. Autonomous cars solve the wrong problem (that people don’t want to waste time driving). Trains solve multiple important problems (inefficiency, urban sprawl, traffic).
Re: As soon as Apple's self-driving car is availab (Score:3)
They'll say they invented the car. And transportation in general.
Re: (Score:2)
It's almost as if you've never heard of the Hewlett-Packard iPaq.
Wonder how much they'll charge (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Apple's market isn't the super rich, it's the middle class who want to feel rich by owning a status symbol. I'd bet on a $50K price point, so that it's something they can get most middle class people on a payment plan for.
I can already see the 2026 headlines.. (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: I can already see the 2026 headlines.. (Score:1)
It's almost as if whithout Jobs, a bunch of yes men in ties are a bunch of yes men in ties, and they are ShinyMicrosoft. :?
Re: (Score:1)
Too late. (Score:1)
Let's mark this as the definitive starting point of Apple's second downfall, except this time, Zombie Jesus^H^H^H^Hobs can's save them again.
Mark my words. I'll link to this in 2030.
(And no, I wish them all the best. ... If they act like good people too.)
Re: (Score:2)
Microsoft will have to save them. They do not want that near-monopoly position under any circumstances. Unless MS does not do operating systems anymore in 2030...
Well, the tech will surely be better (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
The trouble may be that the car will make the kinds of mistake that a human would never make, whilst humans make the kinds of mistake that the car wouldn't make, and humans are biased (another human mistake) and will say that cars are worse.
And one human bias is that if you are taking a risk yourself, like skiing down a mountain, you are more willing to accept risk, but if the risk is imposed on you (autonomous car runs you over) you are less accepting of that risk.
Half a decade ? Is this some Imperial time unit ? (Score:2)
And what's that in Shakes ?
How hard can it be? (Score:2)
Four motors, a chunk of batteries and some wiring and software to get a non-autonomous vehicle up and running. Heck, I'm surprised they don't just outsource the whole thing to an existing manufacturer and design the shell and software themselves. It's not like their current customers are used to looking under the hood when it comes to their Apple devices.
Re: (Score:2)
That's what Jaguar did with the i-Pace, so it could easily be done by Apple if they wanted.
Half a Decade Away = 5 years (Score:2)
But where's the poetry in "5 years"? The rule seems to be that headlines need to be eye-catching; especially when they are tacked on to a stupid article. I won't bore you with my lecture about the other rule that every word in a headline must begin with a capital letter. That throwback to Ben Franklin and beyond has outlived its usefulness.
This "Half a Decade Away" (why not 1/20th of a century?) appears to be total speculation with the excuse that - Oooh, Apple. The general assumption that if the name Apple
Re: (Score:2)
The next election is two-fifths of a decade away. And the Winter Olympics is coming only a tenth of a decade from now.
Re: (Score:2)
So were Tesla's reusable rockets (Score:2)
It's just a matter of the amount of money one can throw at such a project.
Apple cars? Really?? (Score:2)
The first Apple cars will be held white, while a work group figures out which additional colours are acceptable and appropriate for customers. This could take another 5 years, and don't even speculate about the colour red. Add another 5 years until Apple has set up a car repair network, because customers won't be allowed to change tyres due to Apple's own right to repair. And wait until you hear about the steering wheel - made in China by children - have fun touching that! *lol*
Faster than anyone else (Score:2)
Looking at all the major car manaufacturers .. literally none of them have a viable competitor to Tesla within 5 years. Mercedes *might* be there in 7 years. As in, in 7 years Mercedes may have a car that is able to compete with a 2020 Tesla.
Re: (Score:2)
Depends very much on how you like your cars to be. At this very moment I'd much prefer a koda Enyaq to a Tesla Y, though both are a bit big for my taste. Also a Kia Niro over Tesla 3, because you can't sensibly fit a bicycle + some luggage into the 3 like any small hatcback (eg https://farm4.static.flickr.co... [flickr.com]).
Re: (Score:2)
I think VW might get there first, they will have the electric part down soon. Software, we will see.
and right to repair laws? (Score:2)
Apple will face big issues if they try any of the iphone / mac lock in and return pricing stuff with an car.
Also made in the usa?
Re: (Score:2)
Cars pretty much have to be made in North America b/c of tariffs (NAFTA opened up Canada/Mexico). That’s why Japanese cars sold in North America are made here, BMWs in S. Carolina, most VWs in Mexico, etc. I think the rules are more stringent for Asian manufacturers than European ones, though.
Apple will probably make these things in Mexico mostly using robots.
Re: (Score:2)
You mean like John Deere has with tractors...
That's good. enough time to ... (Score:2)