Anki Drive AI-Controlled Cars Will Be Available on October 23 for $199

[Smigit]

I think it's very cool but I wouldn't pay that much for it. Reminds me a bit of the Sphero, and like that I imagine I'd get bored rather quickly.

I'd be more keen if you weren't limited the the mat they ship with it. It'd be pretty cool to be able to set up circuits anywhere using gates or something. No doubt the cost of the cars would go through the roof with the number of sensors they'd likely need to make it all work well and ensure cars not only could avoid obstacles and navigate the track, but also retain spacial awareness of where each car is in relation to the other.

Maybe in a few years.

 

[alphaod]

$200 and $79 per car. No.

Have you never bought quality remote controlled cars before?

 

[uniq]

Looks like 5 mins of fun before the novelty wears off. I'm probably not the target market though to be fair.

 

[omenatarhuri]

I think it looks like a lot of fun. Could be a great party game for both grownups and kids!

 

[macchiato2009]

"it's alive".... or.... it's useless

 

[Dominicanyor]

Not for me!!

 

[pancakedrawer]

$200?!?!?!

Hmm, should I buy a new iPhone 5S, or that Anki thing....?

I don't know, depends on whether you want a 24 month contract too.

 

[Quu]

I'm still trying to fathom why this was shown off at WWDC. Just seems so pointless and at $200 way overpriced for the entertainment value it provides.

If we are all honest with ourselves this is something you'd play with maybe for 2-3 days and then shelve. Is that worth $200? I don't think so. This isn't GTAV level entertainment, this isn't even a Bluray boxset level of entertainment but it's asking you to fork out 3-4x as much as those?

I'm not saying it isn't an interesting technology showcase but that's all it is. They shouldn't be selling this to consumers they should be licensing this technology to toy makers so it fits in the $39.99 price bracket, asking consumers to foot the bill for their no doubt extensive research and development costs is foolhardy.

 

[AppleMark]

Looks like a toy....

That's because you are right, it is a toy.

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You are missing a lot. These cars have an onboard processor that links up with your iPhone over BT LE and between the two of them allows the cars to function by themselves (AI). The cars are almost like role-playing characters. You earn points to spend on upgrades changing the character of the car and what it's capable of. Different cars have different characters and will react differently to the same situations they encounter on the track. You can take your "upgraded" car to a friends and try it out against their car.

The cars can function completely by themselves following a set of rules and objectives related to choices you've made. You can also control them yourself by making some of the decisions during gameplay.

Think of how many people there are who build Sumobots to "fight" each other. From what I've seen these Anki cars are more complex/capable than most Sumobots. When you think of the cost and compare it to a Sumobot suddenly they don't seem that expensive at all.

Perhaps, but it is still just a toy.

 

[ValSalva]

Looks like 5 mins of fun before the novelty wears off. I'm probably not the target market though to be fair.

Agreed. It's remarkable what these cars can do on their own. But that's why it could get boring quickly.

 

[baryon]

It's very cool and an interesting concept but I would think this is the kind of things only rich kids will get for Christmas and then use for a a few days and then forget about it.

 

[MH01]

As soon as something is associated with Apple, the price sours!

These cars are just missing Thunderbolt interface to slap on another $150 to the price.

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Have you never bought quality remote controlled cars before?

Are you suggesting these Anki cars fall into the realm of Quality remote controlled cars?

I doubt they will be anywhere the quality of Scalextric.

 

[Abazigal]

And they failed on the first attempt...

My interpretation was that the Bluetooth signal was basically being jammed by all the wireless signals in the room (since they pretty much share the same frequency). It should work properly under a normal setting.

 

[Jynto]

I thought the headline was about real self-driving cars, until I saw the price... and the article.

 

[ghettochris]

I still prefer the AR drone to dive bomb the cats while in a different room...

I would choose AR drone for $300 over these cars for $200.

Some AI in the drone would be awesome though. you could tell it to fly around the house taking all the pictures it needs to create a 3d model of the whole interior or map the air currents and temperature variations and stuff like that.

2 drones passing a stick back and forth would be pretty sweet too. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pp89tTDxXuI

 

[Skika]

I didn't want to say anything negative about this but i can't help it. This is the dumbest thing ever. I doesn't matter if the cars are entirely autonomous, mag lev, with tiny nuclear generators inside. I sincerely hope there is some practical application to their technology outside of these cars. Otherwise what a tremendous waste of human energy.

What is fun?

 

[roadbloc]

Dat price. Forget it.

 

[croooow]

Looks like a toy....

You are missing a lot. These cars have an onboard processor that links up with your iPhone over BT LE and between the two of them allows the cars to function by themselves (AI). The cars are almost like role-playing characters. You earn points to spend on upgrades changing the character of the car and what it's capable of. Different cars have different characters and will react differently to the same situations they encounter on the track. You can take your "upgraded" car to a friends and try it out against their car.

The cars can function completely by themselves following a set of rules and objectives related to choices you've made. You can also control them yourself by making some of the decisions during gameplay.

So, you are saying that Tech198 should have said "Looks like a toy with some advanced technology..."?

 

[uniq]

As soon as something is associated with Apple, the price sours!

Ironic that what you wrote is the opposite effect of what you meant

Although I suppose in many ways, Apple's prices do leave many feeling a bit sour too

 

[croooow]

I didn't want to say anything negative about this but i can't help it. This is the dumbest thing ever. I doesn't matter if the cars are entirely autonomous, mag lev, with tiny nuclear generators inside. I sincerely hope there is some practical application to their technology outside of these cars. Otherwise what a tremendous waste of human energy.

I think the practical applications are obvious. Autonomous cars! Watch Minority Report again...

 

[willcapellaro]

Pretty cool concept but for $200 with only two cars I doubt it will sell well...

At that price as a kid I'd rather have an Xbox 360, PS3 or Nexus 7, which I'd likely use for much longer, not just as a novelty/demoware.

Yep.

20 years ago, to play all the games you wanted, you had to go to a handful of arcades and break a $20 bill and it was a special event. If you wanted to be a big spender you could buy a game cabinet or pinball machine. Regular folks bought a console.

Now (or in about two months), anyone who wants to play all the games is going to go broke fast. All the new consoles, tablets/phones from each major OS plus accessories, a gaming PC, Steambox, Ouya, Anki, Sphero, Quadcopters, and tons of games, subscriptions and DLC. Plus have to find a place to put all that and a nuclear reactor to power/charge it all.

Revisiting the arcade model makes sense.

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I think it looks like a lot of fun. Could be a great party game for both grownups and kids!

Good to see some optimism. That's actually the best use of it... dropping a few hundos starts to make sense if you get one good party out of it. For kids, I could see having a get together every other week or so, and the next kid gets to keep it at their house until the next event.

If they want to sell this to kids, Anki should have a mini car dealership model and make the kids sign up for a 60-month loan. Never to early to start building good credit.

 

[prowlmedia]

As soon as something is associated with Apple, the price sours!

These cars are just missing Thunderbolt interface to slap on another $150 to the price.

Er No not really. Nothing to do with apple.

There is a lot of technology involved in them. And that's why they are so expensive. As another commenter already said, they should have licensed to say Tomy or even WowWee and the set would have been $99 or less. The problem with start ups it's they always price high.

The thunderbolt comment is flippant and pointless. If you need thunderbolt and make use of that sort of speed, you are doing a pro job and 1) the cost is negligible and 2) anything you buy is normally a business expense and tax deductable

 

[mslide]

Pretty cool tech and all but kids will use this thing for 5 minutes, if their parents were crazy enough to pay that kind of money on it, and then want to go back to their playstation/xbox/whatever. If I had kids, I'd pay maybe $50 for the kit and maybe $20 for the cars. Doesn't matter how much tech is inside or how much work the creators had to put into it. It's just a toy that won't get used much.

This company should be worried. I hope they have bigger plans beyond just toys like this. It's only a matter of time before the big toy companies make knock offs that will be a hell of a lot cheaper.

 

[flottenheimer]

While the AI looks pretty awesome, I simply don't understand the game-component of this 'game'. (I don't really control a car, but I can make 'my' car turn a little sharper or a little less sharp? Or I can just leave it alone and it will control itself. Is that it?)

 

[Basic75]

Looks like 5 mins of fun before the novelty wears off. I'm probably not the target market though to be fair.

I'm more concerned about the batteries not holding out for much more than 5 minutes.

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I sincerely hope there is some practical application to their technology outside of these cars. Otherwise what a tremendous waste of human energy.

It's the other way around, powerful microprocessors are the crucial technology here (together with wireless communication and hopefully good batteries), that has become so cheap that it can even go into toys.