I have no inside knowledge of what project Titan is all about, but when you look at the Bloomberg clip from last year’s WWDC, it doesn’t actually say what people have decided it says. There’s absolutely nothing to support the idea that Apple has moved away from building a whole car to only doing the autonomous driving component; in fact, it hints at something much bigger than autonomy.
Specifically, Cook doesn’t say they’re focusing on autonomous systems. Or rather he does say that, but then quickly corrects himself.
He says:
Later he hints that there’s more going on that they’re not willing to share:
The rumors have Apple at 1,000 employees when the project is the whole car, then reportedly having a layoff in 2016, with 17 Apple employees landing at Zoox over the next year. Then in 2017 we’re supposed to think the project has been scaled back just because Cook talks about autonomy being a core technology?
Now here we are, a year later, and there’s 5,000 employees with need-to-know access credentials for Titan, and Apple’s spending $1.1+ billion per month on R&D. That’s four times the amount of money Zoox raised to do an entire car—spent over a period of years—and Apple’s spending that every month. (Obviously not all of that is for Titan.) Less than $10 billion has been invested in Tesla, to date.
Yes, autonomy is a core technology. But Cook talked about autonomy, electrification and ride-sharing. Also, don’t forget Apple’s $1 billion investment in Didi Chuxing, a ride-hailing service in China.
It doesn’t take 5,000 people to figure out autonomy. Tesla only had 3,000 employees in December 1012—six months after it launched the model S. There’s absolutely no doubt in my mind that Apple’s plans are much bigger than autonomous systems, and it would seem difficult to think otherwise.
Specifically, Cook doesn’t say they’re focusing on autonomous systems. Or rather he does say that, but then quickly corrects himself.
He says:
Later he hints that there’s more going on that they’re not willing to share:
The rumors have Apple at 1,000 employees when the project is the whole car, then reportedly having a layoff in 2016, with 17 Apple employees landing at Zoox over the next year. Then in 2017 we’re supposed to think the project has been scaled back just because Cook talks about autonomy being a core technology?
Now here we are, a year later, and there’s 5,000 employees with need-to-know access credentials for Titan, and Apple’s spending $1.1+ billion per month on R&D. That’s four times the amount of money Zoox raised to do an entire car—spent over a period of years—and Apple’s spending that every month. (Obviously not all of that is for Titan.) Less than $10 billion has been invested in Tesla, to date.
Yes, autonomy is a core technology. But Cook talked about autonomy, electrification and ride-sharing. Also, don’t forget Apple’s $1 billion investment in Didi Chuxing, a ride-hailing service in China.
It doesn’t take 5,000 people to figure out autonomy. Tesla only had 3,000 employees in December 1012—six months after it launched the model S. There’s absolutely no doubt in my mind that Apple’s plans are much bigger than autonomous systems, and it would seem difficult to think otherwise.
car with product release dates far enough into the future that no one can refute the nonsense. From what I see happening with Cook and the Boyz, the car will be sold on a subscription model.