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Apple Hires Two Former Mercedes Engineers to Join Special Projects Group as Apple Car Rumors Increase
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I don’t know. SpaceX made brand new rockets that land themselves on a robotic barge in a violent ocean. It only took a few years. Our technology is advancing at a blistering pace. I am hopeful for a bright future.
Has MB such a bad image in the USA?
Strangely they are one of the most reliable cars in Germany.
The biggest question I have is whether Apple is really going for a driverless car. That’s a tech that (as Tesla is demonstrating) is still far, far from ready for game day, at least within the tolerable risks of the average person. But if anyone can do it well, it may just be Apple.
You make a great point about the rapid pace of innovation. I may be wrong and may also be in the minority, but I think that task (landing a rocket on a barge) is trivial compared to the AI required for a driverless car.
Think of the number of computations just required to go through a school zone: crossing guards who are overriding traffic signals, children suddenly darting out into the street, time-conditional speed limits, etc. And one wrong reaction or calculation, and the cost is much higher than a broken rocket.
That said, I hope I’m wrong and you’re right. I’d love to have a robotic car to drive me around in my later years
In terms of it being on the road ?? No way. R&D. Road testing will take some time. Also the logistics of it. Everything from manufacturing to service. It will take a fleet of new folks to get that done.
If they do produce a car I won’t be a customer for awhile. Not sold on EVs yet. They take too long to charge to be practical for my uses. The tech and batteries will improve they’re just not there yet for a huge portion of car owners to switch.
The car would probably be better if Apple made it themselves, completely.
You can see this with Volkswagen Group, where the cars aren't too bad but the software is...lacking (to use a nice word).
Mercedes OTOH actually has decent software (just the server-side is obviously useless, sometimes and even the EQS gui seems to be slow, which is ridiculous given the price-point), but the cars are "meh" from a pure EV POV. Don't get me wrong, the new EQS is a great car - but it's also way too expensive and way too large for Europe.
But if you look at Tesla (and some Asian manufacturers) - their cars are just way more efficient.
And especially in the case of Tesla, that is because they were designed to be EVs from the ground up.
Unfortunately, the way Tesla is run is not how Apple runs its business. At least not, since Steve has died.
And that doesn't even approach the elephant in the room: Musk's "online presence" and the constant stream of "leaks" that are only thinly coated Musk tweets that he can't personally tweet anymore for legal reasons.
Tim Cook couldn't stand that for five minutes.
Thus the idea of these two somehow cooperating is a pipedream IMO. Though there are of course some similarities in how they approach things - but that is hardly enough common ground.
E.g. I'm sure Apple is quite impressed how Tesla can keep their products under wrap until the last minute. Tesla is a tightly run ship.
Both Tesla and Apple are also way too big. They'd be consumed by just "merging" for years.
My car is 20 years old, but currently it looks as if the next one is a Tesla - precisely because it's not a Mercedes and my guess it I can keep a Tesla running for longer with less expensive repairs.
And with the Apple car, it's not even clear if you can purchase it or if you must lease it.
You can see this with Volkswagen Group, where the cars aren't too bad but the software is...lacking (to use a nice word).
Mercedes OTOH actually has decent software (just the server-side is obviously useless, sometimes and even the EQS gui seems to be slow, which is ridiculous given the price-point), but the cars are "meh" from a pure EV POV. Don't get me wrong, the new EQS is a great car - but it's also way too expensive and way too large for Europe.
But if you look at Tesla (and some Asian manufacturers) - their cars are just way more efficient.
And especially in the case of Tesla, that is because they were designed to be EVs from the ground up.
Unfortunately, the way Tesla is run is not how Apple runs its business. At least not, since Steve has died.
And that doesn't even approach the elephant in the room: Musk's "online presence" and the constant stream of "leaks" that are only thinly coated Musk tweets that he can't personally tweet anymore for legal reasons.
Tim Cook couldn't stand that for five minutes.
Thus the idea of these two somehow cooperating is a pipedream IMO. Though there are of course some similarities in how they approach things - but that is hardly enough common ground.
E.g. I'm sure Apple is quite impressed how Tesla can keep their products under wrap until the last minute. Tesla is a tightly run ship.
Both Tesla and Apple are also way too big. They'd be consumed by just "merging" for years.
My car is 20 years old, but currently it looks as if the next one is a Tesla - precisely because it's not a Mercedes and my guess it I can keep a Tesla running for longer with less expensive repairs.
And with the Apple car, it's not even clear if you can purchase it or if you must lease it.
My opinion follows.
I think the reliability image took a dive in the early 2000s or so, but MBZ really made an effort and IMO by around 2010ish things were more or less rectified. I bought (and still have) a 2011 C300 that's going strong, and followed it up with a 2014 E550 4d. Both are very well put together.
Necessary ingredient there is maintenance and factory Service A/B does not come cheap. I think there is a temptation to do one's own oil changes and things given the cost (which is understandable) though one misses the factory checks that can find potential issues before they turn into problems. YMMV of course.
My takeaway is that MBZ is like any other luxury car at this point...well put together and rewards the maintenance-conscious driver.
This is false, apple legally had to disclose they were testing a self driving vehicle
Whether they make the car themselves or just the self driving tech and partner with another company, their intent is to sell a self driving vehicle.Please prove me false
I mean they’re not hiring all these people from the car industry and testing self driving vehicles so they can go on joyrides on the weekends.
You know most of the iPhone is made by other companies. Samsung makes the displays and circuit boards, Qualcomm makes the modems, Sony makes the cameras, etc
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