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The lidar sensors could be to give the learning algorithms some extra data so it can learn how to interpret data from cheap camera and radar sensors. That's what all self-driving car guys are doing right now
 
Looks interesting! It'll be nice to see what they offer. It'll probably be a package installed by the car manufacturer for safety/self driving items. It's exciting stuff to see!
 
Now the only thing I question is how well the self driving car will deal with poor road conditions. Where I live there is a lot of snow and ice.
You would hope that the car recognises this and drives at a speed that is reasonable for the weather conditions. Sometimes people get themselves into a situation where they get stuck, for example on snow uphill. Some people know how to handle it, others don't. You'd hope a self driving car is as good as any good driver here.

Sometimes the only remedy is someone who knows how to drive in the driver seat, and someone pushing. Driverless car means the driver can get out and push if required! (May be a bit uncomfortable if you push the car to give it a start up a snowy hill, and the car decides it can't stop without being stuck again, and you have to walk all the way up following your car. But better than being stuck. ).

I also wonder if a system fails how the companies deal with the legal aspect. Right now most accidents are due to driver error. In this case if something goes wrong the manufacturer will be 100% liable.
The self-driving software will come with a license that only allows you to use it if your car is insured, just like today. If self-driving cars have more or more expensive accidents than person-driven cars, your premiums will go up, which will keep people from buying the cars. If accidents go down and insurance companies reduce their prices, great. If accidents go down but the insurance companies try to not reduce their prices but increase their profits, then other insurance companies will take advantage of this and offer cheaper insurance.
 
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In case you haven't noticed... competition is on par and in many aspects ahead of Apple. Apple is the one playing catchup lately. That's why I'm curious how well the iPhone 8 will sell because many companies already offer what the iPhone 8 has to offer if the rumors hold true. I don't care if the iPhone is milliseconds faster. I care about good hard and software for a reasonable price. $ 999,- doesn't sound reasonable to me. I hope Apple will surprise me and sell the iPhone 8 for the price of the iPhone 7 plus. If the iPhone 7S plus holds the same form factor it's reasonable to assume it will sell at lower price. The form factor of the iPhone 8 looks already very retro to me and I think sales in China will sink further. Maybe it's good for Apple to get a wake up call.
Well I disagree. In my opinion, it's not. Of course, we can both cherry-pick what we want to show our own points of view. But if your opinion is $999 is not reasonable, the note 8 price isn't reasonable either.

The only wake-up call apple will be getting will be in the 4q numbers, which will probably be the best record breaking quarter in spite of your prediction of China.
 
In case you haven't noticed... competition is on par and in many aspects ahead of Apple. Apple is the one playing catchup lately. That's why I'm curious how well the iPhone 8 will sell because many companies already offer what the iPhone 8 has to offer if the rumors hold true. I don't care if the iPhone is milliseconds faster. I care about good hard and software for a reasonable price. $ 999,- doesn't sound reasonable to me. I hope Apple will surprise me and sell the iPhone 8 for the price of the iPhone 7 plus. If the iPhone 7S plus holds the same form factor it's reasonable to assume it will sell at lower price. The form factor of the iPhone 8 looks already very retro to me and I think sales in China will sink further. Maybe it's good for Apple to get a wake up call.

I'll put in a call to remind you that you're in the wrong thread. That was some good trolling, though.
 
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If she is behind me, she will have to learn that I get slower, the closer someone drives behind me.
Another argument for automated driving. Self-driving cars don't get annoyed at drivers who tailgate or at drivers who take advantage of drivers who don't tailgate.

Recent studies suggest that having self-driving cars on the roads will improve the flow of traffic, even if the majority of traffic is still human-driven. With fewer drivers using aggressive or retaliatory measures, nearly everyone ends up getting to their destination sooner.
 
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Think of the Number of jobs that will be lost when this technology becomes common place.
It will cripple the world.

Companies don't care.
Oh they will SAY they do, as that's PR which itself is only done for financial reasons.
 
Think of the Number of jobs that will be lost when this technology becomes common place.
It will cripple the world.

There are certain myths that have been peddled for decades. A kind of urbanised future myth. One of these was fifty years ago when I was at school. No. Really. Some of us are that decrepit! And they said "Aye Bruce ... in ten years time robotic integration will mean more leisure time for all. Household automatons doing the cleaning. The hoovering. The dusting. The driving. We shall have more free space once we have populated the Moon." That was five decades ago. I laughed at the concept then as much as I do now.

One thing I can quite assure you is that although the technology is getting there. The practicality and global integration will never happen. AI is similar. Ghost In The Shell style Blade Runner simulants with Terminator Cyberdyne takeovers are and always will be the stuff of fantasy. It could happen. But. It's not. Enjoy the hype. The studies and the 'projects'. And relax. You won't be selling your car any time soon. You won't be meeting David from AI. And the most you'll ever experience with any kind of autonomy is your mobile phone apps, your supermarket loyalty card and banking system.

Hang on a minute what about Iron Man you say. He's real enough looking isn't he? No. He's a movie character. Well,how about the Batmobile? It has self driving capability and accountability for its actions hasn't it? Er. No. If you check further you'll find it's not actually real. Fine. So how do you explain KITT made by Knight Industries. Just like Iron Man who was made by none other than Stark Industries? Now look here. I keep trying to tell you. That was a Marvel Universe thing. It doesn't exist in real life. Honestly, readers. Some people, eh?

Having said all that. You would reasonably expect at least one of these super heroes to make an appearance at some time to help out with world problems wouldn't you? Wouldn't you? Ok the Batmobile might not be fully operational and that but maybe Spider-Man or even Tom Holland has a something in his garage he could allow to be dismantled and utilised by the government or if The Avengers could maybe get Nick Fury to help out or Morgan Freeman - he's still working for Wayne Enterprises isn't he. Couldn't he leak out some of the technology secrets to help Apple here? And Robocop he had a motorbike and Judge Dredd .. sorry, Karl Urban. His one actually spoke. Yeah! Oh no. What am I saying. Even I'm getting confused with fantasy and reality. They're all fictional characters aren't they? Aren't they? Just like the self driving concept. Yeah. It might work. But reality keeps rearing its ugly head. Nice idea in theory, mind.

But in our Facebook/social media society non-visual interaction can be a drawback. I remember when I once went for a job interview and the bloke said "So tell me. What's one of your bad points?" "I find it difficult to tell the difference between fantasy and reality", I replied. "So then", he said. "Do you have any particularly strong abilities" "Yes, sir. I'm Superman!", I answered.

Oddly. I never got the job. But that was my gain. And the Daily Planets's loss I reckon.


("Right. That's it. Security! Get this idiot out of this topic thread immediately"- Perry White) IMG_1741.JPG

"Wait. Hang on a minute..you're not real!"

("The hell I'm not real. Now get this guy from my office before I fire you all!"-P.W.)
 
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I know a guy who had a safe driving distance feature on his car. It would keep a safe driving distance between his car and the car ahead of him on the freeways. He had to turn that feature off because cars kept cutting in front of him because THEY COULD!

That's why Apple needs all the extra sensors/cameras, because that activity must be made illegal in the future or else people will abuse it, and you'll need to record offenders and ticket them or something.

AI will always be required to drive by the rules/laws and protect human life over animal or property. So ya, too easy to mess with by human drivers unless there's a fine involved to do so.
 
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In the NYT article about the demise of Apple's autonomous car project, it mentioned that Apple didn't want the LIDAR contraception on the roof like Google's autonomous cars cars. I assumed they meant Apple wanted it smaller - apparently Apple wanted it BIGGER!
 
In all seriousness, I would not be surprised if the reason behind this new 'kit' is to get much better mapping of the _very specific_ areas that their intra-campus shuttles are going to be driving...

It doesn't scale nation-wide or world-wide, but if they're going to be going back and forth between a few buildings in a few adjoining towns, it's reasonable to get top quality scans.

this.....is actually very logical. using the basic sensors for the driving and adding extra 3d mapping sensors to map the certain routes their shuttle will be on would definitely be very effective.
 
There are certain myths that have been peddled for decades. A kind of urbanised future myth. One of these was fifty years ago when I was at school. No. Really. Some of us are that decrepit! And they said "Aye Bruce ... in ten years time robotic integration will mean more leisure time for all. Household automatons doing the cleaning. The hoovering. The dusting. The driving. We shall have more free space once we have populated the Moon." That was five decades ago. I laughed at the concept then as much as I do now.

One thing I can quite assure you is that although the technology is getting there. The practicality and global integration will never happen. AI is similar. Ghost In The Shell style Blade Runner simulants with Terminator Cyberdyne takeovers are and always will be the stuff of fantasy. It could happen. But. It's not. Enjoy the hype. The studies and the 'projects'. And relax. You won't be selling your car any time soon. You won't be meeting David from AI. And the most you'll ever experience with any kind of autonomy is your mobile phone apps, your supermarket loyalty card and banking system.

Hang on a minute what about Iron Man you say. He's real enough looking isn't he? No. He's a movie character. Well,how about the Batmobile? It has self driving capability and accountability for its actions hasn't it? Er. No. If you check further you'll find it's not actually real. Fine. So how do you explain KITT made by Knight Industries. Just like Iron Man who was made by none other than Stark Industries? Now look here. I keep trying to tell you. That was a Marvel Universe thing. It doesn't exist in real life. Honestly, readers. Some people, eh?

Having said all that. You would reasonably expect at least one of these super heroes to make an appearance at some time to help out with world problems wouldn't you? Wouldn't you? Ok the Batmobile might not be fully operational and that but maybe Spider-Man or even Tom Holland has a something in his garage he could allow to be dismantled and utilised by the government or if The Avengers could maybe get Nick Fury to help out or Morgan Freeman - he's still working for Wayne Enterprises isn't he. Couldn't he leak out some of the technology secrets to help Apple here? And Robocop he had a motorbike and Judge Dredd .. sorry, Karl Urban. His one actually spoke. Yeah! Oh no. What am I saying. Even I'm getting confused with fantasy and reality. They're all fictional characters aren't they? Aren't they? Just like the self driving concept. Yeah. It might work. But reality keeps rearing its ugly head. Nice idea in theory, mind.

But in our Facebook/social media society non-visual interaction can be a drawback. I remember when I once went for a job interview and the bloke said "So tell me. What's one of your bad points?" "I find it difficult to tell the difference between fantasy and reality", I replied. "So then", he said. "Do you have any particularly strong abilities" "Yes, sir. I'm Superman!", I answered.

Oddly. I never got the job. But that was my gain. And the Daily Planets's loss I reckon.


("Right. That's it. Security! Get this idiot out of this topic thread immediately"- Perry White) View attachment 714732

"Wait. Hang on a minute..you're not real!"

("The hell I'm not real. Now get this guy from my office before I fire you all!"-P.W.)



the irony of how much your own statements actually contradict what you are trying to say.
currently i CAN(and have) gotten a device that does my "hoovering" for me. i have two automated Vacuums/brooms at my house, sure they are not the best around corners, but I've cut 95% of the time i WOULD have spent sweeping out of my life. i come home, and instead of spending 15-30 minutes sweeping my house( two stories, across 4 rooms with hardwood flooring and 2 rooms with tile) i come home and almost all of it has been handled throughout the day, and i can pick up a small broom, grab the few corners that my device doesn't fit into and cant get *yet* and overall spend maybe 3 minutes of what used to take 30 minute.
that right there gives me an extra 27 minutes of free time.

and thats just 1 single example. ironic that you say our shopping loyalty cards? what loyalty cards? I've had my groceries ordered through an APP, and delivered fresh to my house for well over 3 years now. that 1-2 hours i used to spend shopping every tuesday on my day off? now its about 15 minutes of making a list and putting in my payment info, AND i get the benefit of not being tempted by ever impulse by or getting the "just grabbing milk" syndrome most people do in grocery stores.

so far thats 2:27 I've saved that would NOT even be remotely possible 50 years ago. but wait, theres MORE.

lets add all the other autonomous concepts i use on a daily basis right?

i have a 2 entire rooms of my house, used or the breeding/raising of exotic animals being almost completely run through technology from my smart phone, all autonomously.

of the 47 light fixtures in the two rooms? i do not turn on or off a single one.
i have a program that runs itself, turning each light on or off, depending on that specific animals natural needs. each one on a cycle.

i also have each tank fitted with a Automated "monsoon" system, again run without my daily intervention, to again run on cycles fit for that animals needs.

the program will even determine and tell me when a light goes out, or a water source is empty and needs refilling, and it does so with a text directly to my phone.
so what used to be a Daily task(twice daily for the lights turning on and turning off, and twice daily for misting and water bowl refilling) is now a once weekly walk through to check the health and temperaments of each animal. the only thing that i dont have fully automated with them is feeding them, but thats also simply because i enjoy the time i spend feeding each one individually.

but that example iOS unique to my profession and business, so lets go back to what a "normal" person would benefit from right?
maybe a normal person would have a normal pet like a cat or dog?
we now have automated food and water bowls. they will drop a preset amount of food, on a set schedule, or refill the water from a larger reservoir, every few hours. taking the normal task(one you would have been doing 50 years ago) that would be atleast 1 a day, and making one refill for the set up, once a week or two.
there are even automated litter boxes and automated poop scooping machines for your backyard, should you find them worth the price. literally saving you potentially an hour or two every week, of having to do that yourself, instead of 10-15 minutes of cleaning poop, you take less then 1 minute to throw out the bag its in.

and these are literally just a few of the innovations that have happened in the past few decades.

even one as simple as starting my car from my phone. no more going out in the middle of winter and starting my car and leaving it running inside with he heat/AC on to get it to the optimal temperature. (even back in the 90's we had this but you had to get a very pricey kit. and have it installed to use the remote start on it, and even then, all it did was start it)
now i can start my car, change the temperature, even set my radio station or morning podcast, and have it all qued up ready to go for me to just hop in and drive away.



the irony of you saying that its a concept that youve envisioned for 50 years and never being achievable? 50 years ago it was just that a "concept". but today? i see ATLEAST 3 different self driving testing vehicles on my way to work. every. single. day. sure its a slow developing technology, but thats because its a very expensive technology to create AND there are literally peoples lives on the line should the tech fail,


but what you say is a "concept" is in all actuality, now a working object. its gone from a "Concept" to "proto-type" already. sure it may take a while more, but its not "just" a concept. i can imagine if you went back 50 years( 1967) and tried to convince yourself then that we would have literal super computers in our pockets, with cars fitted with RADAR and Laser guided systems, virtual reality you can view through a headset and can watch anything at anytime from your couch by having a tiny box(smaller then most basic TV remotes that came out in the 70's) that can literally stream ANYTHING, then you would probably be called a liar and be told you should look for a future in Sci-fi writing or be hired on by the producers of the Jetsons.

what you are saying, equates to an Old timer back in the 1930's claiming that self flying airplanes being a "concept" that would never see fruition. yet, here we are in 2017 with 90% of your flight being run by a computer and by "auto-pilot"
sure we still have a pilot there, for safety and as a back up and for takeoffs and landings, but for most of your flight, he's kicking back just as much as you are.
 
the irony of how much your own statements actually contradict what you are trying to say.

what you are saying, equates to an Old timer back in the 1930's claiming that self flying airplanes being a "concept" that would never see fruition. yet, here we are in 2017 with 90% of your flight being run by a computer and by "auto-pilot

The irony of yourself claiming my own post was ironic was ... ironic. That was the point. But then irony is not always appreciated or understood globally as we know. And was proved again here.

However the concept that an "old timer" (whatever that is) would find it hard to comprehend how "self flying aeroplanes" could ever exist would still not be over enamoured even 90 years previous when you qualified the claim with "well actually not so much self-flown ... more fly-assisted". And that cheery old puffin would raise his walking frame, look wistfully into the distance and say (in an inexplicable Dick Van Dyke cock-er-ney accent) "So basically then - you may as well just employ someone to supervise if you can't allow the thing a fully autonomous directive don't'cha know, guv'nor?"

And do you know, readers that's exactly why self driving cars will never happen either. Unless the total package is 100% trustworthy without any need for human intervention then human intervention will be needed which is like having a dog and barking yourself. In other words. What's the point? Have you actually seen the state of British urban roads? I wouldn't allow David Hasselhoff on them and he's got a self driving-car already!

"That's right, David. Would you like me to take you to the town centre shops with you in the back seat?"

"Not bloomin' likely, KITT. Switch to full human control. I've seen how well your three point turns are like. And as for your parallel parking, my cat could do better. Order me a pizza and tell me what movies are on this week but you are NOT negotiating Birminghams spaghetti junction .... that is RIGHT OUT!"

"But David I have the ability to sense my surroundings using this massive behemoth of a contraption strapped to my roof which looks as aerodynamic as a massive boat and about as practical as well ... but nonetheless I have the ability to speak in seventeen different languages and I can recite the Highway Code backwards and .."

"KITT. KITT mate. You're not listening. Get on the phone. Order me a Hawaiian with extra pineapple and tell the bloke I'll be at his door in ten minutes, yeah? Ten minutes. Give us the keys .. I can't believe I nearly let you talk me into driving this thing on your own. Fuel tank is quarter full and the foot wells are covered in parking tickets and sweet wrappers.... jeeeez"

Now, do you see? Good. Let's hear no more of this talking car nonsense again. If you're really bothered about not driving then sell the car and catch the bus . I know I am!

"Preferably on the next one out of town!"- Macrumors Ed.)

Charming. That's what I get for trying to be helpful ...
 


Under the leadership of Apple's Bob Mansfield, the company is now working on an autonomous driving platform that could potentially be used in third-party vehicles.

Despite the "frenzy" of activity on self-driving cars, I think we're a lot further away from a commercial reality than anyone cares to admit.

My self-driving vacuum cleaners still can't seem to work. . .
[doublepost=1503883489][/doublepost]
yet, here we are in 2017 with 90% of your flight being run by a computer and by "auto-pilot"
sure we still have a pilot there, for safety and as a back up and for takeoffs and landings, but for most of your flight, he's kicking back just as much as you are.

There are NO pilots "kicking back" ANYTIME in the cockpit. This statement alone shows the depth of your ignorance.
 
Can they get CarPlay right before they mess with this? I tried it for the first time today. Turned on Maps nav and plugged it into the car. Phone screen went black, but car screen didn't show the map, and I couldn't find anything to change it. Had to just keep the phone unplugged to disable CarPlay and show my nav. Literally worse than worthless, would rather have a 1/8" aux cable.
[doublepost=1503890816][/doublepost]
And yet, they can't use Airplay on any Lexus/Toyota vehicle.
Toyota owners aren't missing anything.
 
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Even if apple is working on an autonomous system it is at a far different stage when compared to what Tesla is doing.

The fact that Apple was Apple to keep him for 12 years says a lot. Perhaps he just wanted to try something different. 12 years is a bloody long time to spend at the same company.

This is a bit cynical but could he have been planted at Tesla by Apple in an elaborate scheme to uncover trade secrets? A la Microsoft and Elop at Nokia? Lattner is now at Google Brain. If he last 6 months there and then returns to Apple...
[doublepost=1503904108][/doublepost]
Self Driving Cars (like a recent self driving lorries story) will never happen in the UK. A fantastic idea. The reality however is that we have one of the most congested roads in the world so the elephant in the room is that it'd be a litigious nightmare. However it's an amusing aside if nothing else. A bit like electric car adoption then. Do you believe the hype or look out of the window and face reality? Apple has to spend its billions on something - why not use it on something that will never come to fruition and so therefore will never be judged for its success. Clever, Tim!.:cool:

I think the London Congestion zone could easily be designated first an electric only zone (i.e. Zero emissions) and then a driverless only zone. The pollution and safety arguments will become compelling to politicians. Imagine how much quieter, and cleaner London would be. You'd be able to smell fresh air! They could pedestrianize large areas too and regain space from car parks.
 
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macrumors said:
GPS sensors allow the car to orient itself relative to its surroundings
Nope. Absolutely not. GPS Sensors give you an approximate location within 3m radius best case. GPS is almost irrelevant to autonomous driving itself. GPS is 99% for navigation purpose.
There is just no way this is for autonomous driving. They are up to something else here, we just don't know what yet. That is a ridiculous overkill of sensors for autonomous driving.
This (what you meant to say...)! IMHO: Apple is not developing the Apple Car, at least not yet. Apple doesn't like to bother with certain stuff. We have seen this at TVs. No Apple TV screen so far. I'd say they are working on the software for autonomous driving, algorithms, AI,... I could imagine (this is speculation!) Apple realized that a real AutoPilot will have to undergo a lot of testing by authorities and probably need to be certified. At this point Apple may be able to sell just the certified autopilot hardware and software to other companies. As this is a huge safety thing, having a reliable & safe Apple autopilot would likely make a hughe difference when purchasing a self driving car. That said, Apple may easily build a self driving car after having the autopilot. The rest of the car is easy compared to the autopilot. But again, a car is not Apple's style. They prefer clean, sterile, maintenance free stuff that has a touch of luxury, perfection... A car with lots of moving (wearing & corroding) parts (chassis, suspension,...) doesn't match that profile. Although, in times of Tim, we never know...
 
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