Lexus SUV Being Used for Apple's Self-Driving Software Test Spotted on the Road

[neutralguy]

It's just not possible to create a self driving car that can handle all possible scenario. Why?? Because we have been trying and not been successful in creating a computer that can mimic human brain. Until then, we all can keep dreaming!!

 

[Fenez]

Self driving cars, once they are in the majority, will change everything.

Journey times will be reduced, traffic will be a thing of the past and accidents will drop off the scale.

It is the future and to be honest it sounds a lot more comfortable than travelling in tubes.

Unfortunately that won't be for many years to come.

 

[dsburdette]

Self driving cars, once they are in the majority, will change everything.

Journey times will be reduced, traffic will be a thing of the past and accidents will drop off the scale.

It is the future and to be honest it sounds a lot more comfortable than travelling in tubes.

I'm just too skeptical. On the surface, it seems like a great idea but they will be hacked at some point. Windows has been developed for decades as have many other systems and they're all fallible. Period. I just don't know how well I'll trust a bunch of humans programming my automated trip w/ so many variables. And before someone says that planes fly w/o pilots for the majority of the trip, they're also not lined up in a formation of 6 wide by hundreds long.

And that's to say nothing of the fact that I love to drive the majority of time! ;-)

 

[goobot]

I don't understand what the point to this is. Apple is succeful because it builds software for its hardware. The tight intergration is what results in its great products. What does it plan to do with this? License it out? That has never been a strong suit of Apple and is more of what google does.

 

[mi7chy]

Looks like a copy of Google's early prototype.

 

[Rettun1]

Yes, but one could argue some actually enjoy driving a car...and don't find it a frustrating experience.
No one enjoys being stuck in traffic.And yes, you can take selfies, or rehearse a business pitch on your ride.
Besides, wouldn't all cars need to be self-driving to ensure faster arrival times?

I'm all for innovation, but sometimes we need to keep things of the past. There's nothing like driving a stick shift. It's not some boring sterile autonomous ride.

When autonomous cars are popular and human drivers are responsible for significantly more accidents (and therefore deaths) than the autopiloted cars, "people driving because they like to" won't be a good enough reason to let them do so.

Sometimes we just need to let go of things of the past...

 

[A MacBook lover]

Some Blueblockers or something. Damn.

Or testing Apple VR while also testing the self driving system.

 

[groovyd]

Yes, but one could argue some actually enjoy driving a car...and don't find it a frustrating experience.
No one enjoys being stuck in traffic.And yes, you can take selfies, or rehearse a business pitch on your ride.
Besides, wouldn't all cars need to be self-driving to ensure faster arrival times?

I'm all for innovation, but sometimes we need to keep things of the past. There's nothing like driving a stick shift. It's not some boring sterile autonomous ride.

seems the best first round would be to designate special autonomous only lanes like hov so the cars don't have all that much to think about except keeping speed with whoever is in front of them. No need for lane changing if they somehow agree on an acceptable autonomous speed limit that all cars just follow and it could very well be much faster then the current speed limit. They could even help the cars out a bit by embedding a wire in the lane middle that it could follow just to improve reliability.

 

[Col4bin]

Or testing Apple VR while also testing the self driving system.

Apple Blueblockers VR headset for seniors. Comes in rose gold.

 

[charlituna]

The main thought this triggered in me: when will Apple Maps have street view!? Fancy 3D sataletite view is a cool but pointless gimmick, streetview is actually useful!

I'll have to see if I can find the source but I recall reading an article that Google actually patented and/or trademarked the whole street view thing so Apple would have to license it for them, and either doesn't want to or Google wouldn't make an offer (since its not vital tech they aren't legally required to license out)

 

[osaga]

Apple's innovation lies in its ability to take an emerging product category with a frustrating user experience and deliver a polished product made possible by its control over both the hardware and software.

Imagine an Apple designed and built car running on proprietary software. It might be sort of ugly, and it might not be as good as the Bmw/ford/whatever car running on google/whatever software. Apple is taking the Microsoft route this time by developing THE software. Tesla is going after THE batteries. The other auto manufacturers will be left battle it out for market share using both. Exciting times.

 

[Lidar]

This looks to be more of a mobile mapping setup rather than an autonomous vehicle driving setup.

 

[MacCurry]

Lidar becomes ineffective in high precipitation conditions. If you have heavy rain, fog, smoke, and dust it will be a problem. It will suffer from really bad diffraction.

I doubt Apple can actually innovate, much less compete, with established car companies. Toyota, Ford, GM and BMW will jump on self driving cars once sensors become reliable. Until then it won't happen.

Apple would be better off updating the Mac Pro and other desktop computers before dumping money in to a black hole which they'll never. Oh well...some companies can burn through the cash if they have it.

 

[Born Again]

The same way the iPod, iPhone and iPad were late to the music player, smartphone and tablet markets?

Google is supposed to have great data algorithms, yet their home speaker can still serve fake news. This shows that simply having the technically prowess in a vacuum is useless if it doesn't mean a great experience for the end user.

A great user experiences requires a company with a design-first mindset, and Apple gets both design and tech. If it's anyone who can get the user experience of a self-driving car right (and not just the tech aspect), it would be Apple.

Apple maps late to the game still has a bad user experience

Apple isn't the same company anymore

They lack innovation.

That's coming from mac gearheads not just me.

 

[Crzyrio]

Apple maps late to the game still has a bad user experience

Apple isn't the same company anymore

They lack innovation.

That's coming from mac gearheads not just me.

The iPhone, year after year is Apple biggest innovation. It just is not something that can be seen from externally, or is hard for people to comprehend what is really happening behind the scenes, that is allowing them to do what they are.

 

[Abazigal]

Apple maps late to the game still has a bad user experience

Apple isn't the same company anymore

They lack innovation.

That's coming from mac gearheads not just me.

"Apple lacks innovation because they aren't catering to a small niche of nerds that hardly makes any revenue"

While many tech-minded individuals question Apple's competitiveness and long-term sustainability, I personally feel that the Apple brand has never been stronger in the eyes of consumers buying the products. We can go even further to say that the Apple brand is so strong these days, consumers are not shocked or surprised to hear rumors about Apple entering new industries like cars.

Meanwhile, it is the the tech press who still can't wrap their heads around the idea of Apple designing its own car.

How ironic.

 

[Irock619]

Are you sure these guys dont work for Google?

 

[roland.g]

Apple was first granted a DMV permit to test autonomous vehicles on public roads on Friday, April 14. At the time, a DMV spokesperson said the company had registered three 2015 Lexus RX450h SUVs to be driven by six Apple employees with expertise in autonomous vehicles.

Am I the only one who sees the paradox here. The cars are to be driven by people. That hardly makes them autonomous...😎😀

 

[Soulman]

Buy America Apple.

 

[cuencap]

It's just not possible to create a self driving car that can handle all possible scenario. Why?? Because we have been trying and not been successful in creating a computer that can mimic human brain. Until then, we all can keep dreaming!!

This is such old school thinking. It's like the patent commissioner (Charles Duell) saying "everything that can be invented has been invented." back in 1899.

"We" may have been trying for years, but that's just how difficult the problem is. The fact that over a dozen of the top electronic and car companies have been working on it is pretty amazing and shows how unified 'we' are to create a valid solution.
[doublepost=1493353660][/doublepost]

seems the best first round would be to designate special autonomous only lanes like hov so the cars don't have all that much to think about except keeping speed with whoever is in front of them. No need for lane changing if they somehow agree on an acceptable autonomous speed limit that all cars just follow and it could very well be much faster then the current speed limit. They could even help the cars out a bit by embedding a wire in the lane middle that it could follow just to improve reliability.

This is like creating a high def version of a CD-rom to appease those who aren't willing to make the jump to streaming and downloading content. The billions of dollars it would take to change our nation's infrastructure are better spent finding a fully autonomous solution.

 

[predation]

These tech companies will have to build their own cars. No way the big oems will use os from tech companies. Driver data is a gold mine.

Previously the data was so large that it couldn't be deciphered. Now that tech is catching up with big data crunching, it's possible to glean a myriad of information from the vast amounts of data.

The big oems might be behind from the tech companies, but surely they will catch up and own their own.


If Apple decides to build a car again, I'm 100% down to commit to work on your design team. Been in the automobile design game for 13 years. Just DM me Apple.

 

[jjcaspar]

Bugs me that they chose a Japanese car. Maybe my next phone will be from a Chinese company..

 

[sudo1996]

Those Lexus SUVs suck. You pay a lot of money for it, and it has the Lexus brand name, but it drives like a Toyota.
[doublepost=1493355723][/doublepost]

Bugs me that they chose a Japanese car. Maybe my next phone will be from a Chinese company..

Whether or not you're talking about buying American(tm), I'm convinced that Japanese cars are inferior nowadays. American cars handle better and seem to have caught up in terms of fuel economy. I used to drive a 2010 Honda Accord, and it handled like garbage compared to my uncle's Chevy Malibu and the 2005 Ford Crown Victoria I now drive. But I think the German companies still make the best cars.

 

[pdaholic]

It's just not possible to create a self driving car that can handle all possible scenario. Why?? Because we have been trying and not been successful in creating a computer that can mimic human brain. Until then, we all can keep dreaming!!

Have you spent any amount of time on the road? It's clear that you don't need a brain to dive a car!

 

[MH01]

Self driving cars, once they are in the majority, will change everything.

Journey times will be reduced, traffic will be a thing of the past and accidents will drop off the scale.

It is the future and to be honest it sounds a lot more comfortable than travelling in tubes.

Maybe when cars fly........ until such time a combination of self driving and idiots on the roards will being new levels of chaos. Apple can't even get Siri on par with google, would you trust an automated car?
[doublepost=1493360015][/doublepost]

The same way the iPod, iPhone and iPad were late to the music player, smartphone and tablet markets?

Google is supposed to have great data algorithms, yet their home speaker can still serve fake news. This shows that simply having the technically prowess in a vacuum is useless if it doesn't mean a great experience for the end user.

A great user experiences requires a company with a design-first mindset, and Apple gets both design and tech. If it's anyone who can get the user experience of a self-driving car right (and not just the tech aspect), it would be Apple.

As a more appropriate example, of AI, apple and Siri...... careful it's not all rosey. Apple does great hardware as you mentioned.....this is software....if Siri does not even know what a "World Cup" is....you first in a self driving car 😉