Apple Working Toward Fully Autonomous Car With No Steering Wheel or Pedals, Aiming to Launch in 2025

[jjcs]

People complained about the phone, lightbulb and horseless carriage too.

The phone, lightbulb and automobile didn't limit me. They improved life. What you describe won't. More and more dependence on the "tech" industry and less on one's self. No. Enough.

Now, an autopilot mode limited entirely to controlled access roads like interstates would be attractive as an option on long trips, but what you envision would suck. Especially as much would be pushed by mandates and NOT the market.

 

[batman75]

What could possibly go wrong? LOL. Just ask Tesla how hard autonomous driving us. FSD *still* doesn't come remotely close to what's its name implies after *years* of beta testing (by paid customers!)

Yes that's why they removed only half the steering wheel. They will take the other half out in 2024 and leave a small joystick, for the occasions FSD falls short (i.e. 50% of driving).

 

[WhatUp?]

The iMightKillYouWhileYouSleep.

 

[rid]

Apple, no steering wheel, no pedals, sounds legit! Reminds me of The Onion's news about the MacBook Wheel in their report "Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard".

 

[voy@ger]

I call this the 'grid control electronic overlay'. IMO a prerequisite for safe AV, despite what practically all AV developers are saying. The HUGE question is: if people want their car to be part of some 'Big Brother is Watching You' system...

"Even the most advanced autonomous features are limited and require driver supervision. Executives and industry experts say the missing link is cities, which need to be wired to funnel massive amounts of data to cars in order for them to meaningfully drive themselves. That’s why Toyota is building its sensor-laden “Woven City” from the ground up a two-hour drive outside of Tokyo."

"The idea is to use sensors and cameras scattered throughout roads, traffic lights and buildings — and perhaps even data from mobile phones — to gather information on everything from pedestrian traffic to precipitation. That massive data stream will then be processed via optical networks, data centers and the cloud to create a digital “twin,” or mirror image, of the living city. The virtual, synthesized data can then be fed to cars, letting them safely navigate through the real world without human intervention."
(source Bloomberg)

 

[nickdalzell1]

Somehow I expect Siri would ge less accurate as an automation AI than whatever the MCAS system in the Boeing 737 MAX was, and we all know what happened in the latter case: Plane literally nose-dived into the ground.

I'm gonna NOPE out on this idea. At least, until it comes in a black Trans Am with William Daniels' voice, that is.

The most they can hope for is this being a service and not something you own. According to the World Economic Forum, by 2030, "You'll own nothing. And be happy"



Also, with Facebook creating 'Meta' we might not be taking to the road very often to begin with. So at best this 'car' might be more a thing for the rare trip or for those who are blind or otherwise incapable of driving. Best case scenario, it becomes more of a glorified park tour vehicle like those Explorers in Jurassic Park.

 

[chucker23n1]

They will take the other half out in 2024 and leave a small joystick, for the occasions FSD falls short (i.e. 50% of driving).

lol, sure

If they don’t want their car to be available in most markets, maybe.

 

[meady100]

Siri literally cannot follow my simple instructions. The thought of Apple AI controlling a car sounds laughable/horrifying.

 

[nickdalzell1]

What I don't understand is this:

Companies are supposed to follow the rules of supply/demand. They supply what the customers demand.

Who is demanding this?! Anyone?

 

[Manzanito]

What I don't understand is this:

Companies are supposed to follow the rules of supply/demand. They supply what the customers demand.

Who is demanding this?! Anyone?

It’s not on the market yet, hard to know if there’s a demand or not. We’ll know for sure once such vehicles are released.

 

[nickdalzell1]

No one is asking for it though. Isn't supply supposed to come with demand? Why launch something no one asked for?

Where was the demand to drop headphone jacks, or removable batteries, also? Seems like companies just keep wanting to shoot themselves in the foot, or people are stupider than I figured. If companies were this anti-consumer (regarding dropping features on phones) in the 60s that would EOL such a company.

In a way I'm just trying to understand how the free market has changed so much.

 

[Romain_H]

No one is asking for it though. Isn't supply supposed to come with demand? Why launch something no one asked for?

Where was the demand to drop headphone jacks, or removable batteries, also? Seems like companies just keep wanting to shoot themselves in the foot, or people are stupider than I figured. If companies were this anti-consumer (regarding dropping features on phones) in the 60s that would EOL such a company.

In a way I'm just trying to understand how the free market has changed so much.

I am asking for it given it works as intended. Would save me lots of time and is certainly super convenient to have

 

[UBS28]

Yeah, typically Apple. Taking away features and make you pay extra for it.

 

[Manzanito]

No one is asking for it though. Isn't supply supposed to come with demand? Why launch something no one asked for?

Where was the demand to drop headphone jacks, or removable batteries, also? Seems like companies just keep wanting to shoot themselves in the foot, or people are stupider than I figured. If companies were this anti-consumer (regarding dropping features on phones) in the 60s that would EOL such a company.

In a way I'm just trying to understand how the free market has changed so much.

Those are two different things. Apple has acted stupidly with some decissions (and reversed course, eventually, like the laptop design) and wisely with others (if consumers are willing to put up with decissions that harms them but bemefit apple, why shouldn’t apple take advantage of that).

Regarding the demand apple must have done extensive market research to decide if there’s a market or not for autonomous vehicles, giving the vast amounts of money such a developement requires. Market research doesn’t always work (see the flop of 3D tvs for instance), but the thing apple is unparalleled in is in making money, so if they enter the car arena, it’s a safe bet there’s a market for that.

 

[UBS28]

Airplanes basically don't need pilots, the computer can fly the planes themselves. However they still keep pilots in the cockpit for safety reasons.

 

[nickdalzell1]

Airplanes basically don't need pilots, the computer can fly the planes themselves. However they still keep pilots in the cockpit for safety reasons.

Yeah, since that worked so well for Boeing during the 737 MAX disasters. Planes crashed even with pilots. the MCAS system was an utter failure that they grounded the whole fleet.

Now, imagine a car that does something similar only without the chance of overriding it.

 

[voy@ger]

Airplanes basically don't need pilots, the computer can fly the planes themselves. However they still keep pilots in the cockpit for safety reasons.

THE huge difference between planes and cars is "space - the decisive frontier".
A plane operates in the infinitely more overseeable 3D realm, whilst cars move around in an overcrowded 2D pane.

 

[canhaz]

How and in what way does the rumored fully autonomous with no steering wheel or pedals Apple Car remind you of the Jetsons' flying car?

The Jetsons' car can fly. The rumored Apple Car can't.
The Jetson's car has a manual control for steering. The rumored Apple Car doesn't.
The rumored Apple Car would be fully autonomous. The Jetsons' car isn't.

The core similarity is that they're both fictional.

 

[nickdalzell1]

Didn't we get promised flying cars by 2020 during the Jetson's era?

 

[hrMACnstuff]

can't wait for the flood of personal injury attorneys to crawl out from under the rocks over this.

 

[cardfan]

I am asking for it given it works as intended. Would save me lots of time and is certainly super convenient to have

I’m waiting on the teleporters and replicators. These are just as likely. Maybe a time machine.

 

[cocoua]

I always had this joke saying if apple releases an apple car, it wouldn’t have reverse in the first model released. In reference to how many times apple has removed or omitted main features in first versions as video in original iPhone, some ports, keys, etc. or how long them had hold features for future devices, as GPU, screen size or internal drive capacity.

But omitting steer wheel and pedals is just genius!!! Put them on the second and third version and you will force people to buy a new car EVERY year.

Wondering if you could up and down windows at launch or need a future soft release

Anyway, what is sure is Apple Maps in Europe wont be ready until 2079 for whole autonomous drive experience.

 

[voy@ger]

Wondering if you could up and down windows at launch or need a future soft release

 

[nickdalzell1]

I’m waiting on the teleporters and replicators. These are just as likely. Maybe a time machine.

I kinda prefer Holodecks myself.

 

[asdfjkl;]

Do people think that any autonomous driving system will ever beat a 100% capable human driver, not under the influence of any substance, fatigue, etc? I mean, without the monitoring assistance by some 6G-7G electronic grid overlay... which is btw what Toyota is hinting at.

Personally, I seriously doubt this. Why? Let me put it this way. Billions of brain cells multiplied by tens of thousands of synapses in each individual human brain make for more instant connections than there are stars in 20 to 40 thousand galaxies. Housed in a roundish ‘cockpit’ capable of swiveling (the human head), equipped with two amazingly effective optic and ditto hearing sensors (eyes and ears) and a hard-drive full of constantly updateable learning material, topped off by the human intuition, they enable us to split-sec reference what we see, hear and feel when driving. Hard to beat those, if ever. And this is the 1st of the FIVE fundamental issues I have with AV systems...

I couldn't agree more. Musk proclaimed in 2015 that fully autonomous cars would be here in 2 - 3 years. Nope. So then again in 2019 he said that in a year they'd be here ... Nope. In 2020 Musk said that "basic functionality" for fully autonomous driving would be released that year. Nope. Now Tesla is releasing "full self-driving mode" which is, of course, not full self-driving. Tesla has had to admit to the CA DMV that, in fact, their "full self-driving mode" is actually not Level 5, or full autonomy, but actually just Level 2, or an Advanced Driving Support System which is merely support for a human driver. Yep, definitely a bad case of billionaire's disease.

Fully autonomous driving is, like fusion, still beyond the horizon. Nobody has any idea when it will be possible. Any estimate as to when it will arrive is pure fantasy. The date referenced in this rumor is just some internal date given to the team by someone who is, yes, suffering from the dreaded billionaire's disease.