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First Apple Car to Be Fully Autonomous and Designed to Operate Without a Driver

I too am skeptical about this. Apple is a consumer electronics firm. I don't understand why they would make a car that's sold to other businesses, not directly to consumers. And I can't see autonomous vehicles being deployed that quickly. The biggest problems for autonomous vehicles are the other vehicles on the road that are driven by humans. If all cars were autonomous and could communicate their proximity, roads would be much safer than they are now. But until people allow that to happen, human drivers will always be the wild card that causes most of the accidents. Unless Apple has found a way to mitigate that, autonomous cars will be an interesting technical experiment with limited real-world use.
 
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DrV said:
Quite often the Asian manufacturers have proved to produce very reliable vehicles. So, what is “quality”?
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Japan yes. Korea, not so much. Fit, finish, and longevity all suffer on Korean designed and sourced vehicles as compared to those from Japan (if you are only talking Asian producers). I know they are mostly made elsewhere but the designs are sourced from Korea and the component requirements are written and approved in Korea.
 
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jerryk said:
Why restricted areas and good weather? My Tesla works fine in rain and pretty much drove itself down to LA and back from the bay area. The only time I took control was stopping for food since I wanted to drive by places and see what the lines were like. Also, works pretty well on city streets including the subdivision I live in.
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Snow, slush, slippery roads. Fog, heavy rain.

At least all current and upcoming Level 3 autonomous cars are limited to temperatures above +4 °C (39 °F). And after spending a dozen hours shoveling snow during the last couple of weeks I can well understand why.

This may not be a problem in souther CA, but it is a problem in many other places (NY...). A delivery fleet operator cannot afford having the whole fleet grounded just because it happens to be a slightly cooler morning, even if it happens only a couple of times a year.
 
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Candlelight said:
"Siri, turn left... TURN LEFT!!!"
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"Here's what I found on the web for TURN LEFT!!......"

1612397318911.png
 
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DrV said:
Snow, slush, slippery roads. Fog, heavy rain.

At least all current and upcoming Level 3 autonomous cars are limited to temperatures above +4 °C (39 °F). And after spending a dozen hours shoveling snow during the last couple of weeks I can well understand why.

This may not be a problem in souther CA, but it is a problem in many other places (NY...). A delivery fleet operator cannot afford having the whole fleet grounded just because it happens to be a slightly cooler morning, even if it happens only a couple of times a year.
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Current systems work fine in snow or slush. They can follow the tracks of previous vehicles and monitor where the road edge or curbs are. They have radar for fog and other vision limiting conditions. Also, they don't do a lot of things that cause humans problems in those conditions. Like, get bored or in a hurry which leads to pileups by overdriving the conditions.
 
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DrV said:
If the car is to be completely driverless (SAE autonomy level 5), it won’t be released in 2024. I doubt it will be released in 2034, either.

Alternatively, it may be aimed at very limited markets; the cars only operate in a restricted area in good weather. But does that make any commercial sense?
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I don't think it will even have a steering wheel. It may look like a small bus and be a personal transport from place like airports to downtowns or suburbs to a corporate campus. It is more a commercial mobility product. Probably specific iOS features for passengers and a screen running Apple TV and Apple Music. Good marketing move too.
 
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Even if Apple's self driving technology is perfect, Apple would still need to get Government approval to offer it as a driverless vehicle even if it's use is limited to companies like local taxis or food delivery. And the legal mess of who is responsible in case of an accident, even a fender bender is likely to take some time. I really doubt that 2024 or 2025 is doable even if the technology is ready.0
 
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t76turbo said:
Japan yes. Korea, not so much. Fit, finish, and longevity all suffer on Korean designed and sourced vehicles as compared to those from Japan (if you are only talking Asian producers). I know they are mostly made elsewhere but the designs are sourced from Korea and the component requirements are written and approved in Korea.
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JD Power Initial Quality Study: most model-level awards go to Hyundai. Highest ranking brands: Dodge and Kia.

The Koreans have learned fast and surpassed the Japanese.

(And no, I do not have a Korean car. I drive a German one but wish it was as reliable as the Asian cars.)
 
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JPack said:
Given this news about it being a robotaxi, the Hyundai-Kia partnership makes more sense. Quality doesn't need to be top notch, but price will.
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There is nothing wrong with Hyundia-Kia quality? They stand by it with a 7 year warranty.
 
EdT said:
Even if Apple's self driving technology is perfect, Apple would still need to get Government approval to offer it as a driverless vehicle even if it's use is limited to companies like local taxis or food delivery. And the legal mess of who is responsible in case of an accident, even a fender bender is likely to take some time. I really doubt that 2024 or 2025 is doable even if the technology is ready.0
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Already been done. Here in California, several companies have licenses to operate autonomous vehicles on the streets in certain jurisdictions. Google/Waymo taxis are running around the streets of the Chandler, Arizona area.
 
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Four+ years ago.

otto-budweiser-self-driving-truck

In the wee hours of Thursday morning, 51,744 cans of Budweiser received an escort worthy of a president.​

Otto, a startup Uber bought this summer, used one of its autonomous trucks to complete a 120-mile trek in Colorado, which the companies are calling the first commercial delivery using a self-driving truck.
 
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This makes sense if you think of cities like San Francisco, or even better, London where it's far more difficult to operate a car inside the city. If a city like London banned cars altogether in favor of a network of robo-taxis, it would make travel within the city MUCH more efficient. In terms of consumer vehicles, no way Apple launches a driverless consumer vehicle or even a driverless taxi that operates without significant geographic constraints (e.g. not outside large cities). Despite the hordes of sci-fi dreamers who believe we are on the cusp of truly driverless, autonomous vehicles ... we are far, FAR away from that. But hey, dream away.

September 25, 2012: https://www.cnet.com/news/googles-sergey-brin-youll-ride-in-robot-cars-within-5-years/

8 1/2 years later... not quite.
 
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tongxinshe said:
Apple’s autonomous driving technology is at least 5 years behind Google, don’t expect much from it.
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Then it's a good thing that Google is in the business of licensing out or selling their AI technology to anyone with money.
 
I only use Siri with HomePods for music and intercom. She fails about 1/4 of the time to do the right thing on these basic commands. You think I'd get in a car with her driving? 🤣
 
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Past few weeks I've been thinking someone has been violating NDA and provide details about Apple's plan. But now that I come to think of it more, it's actually necessary that consumers know about this plan in advance.

Getting a car is a minimum 5 years plan. It only makes sense that Apple allows its customers to know their car plan in advance so that they can plan accordingly. Otherwise when the product unveils, a faithful consumer may have just acquired a new vehicle and that customer is out of reach for at least 5 years.

What do you guys think about this?
 
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