It would be interesting how Apple would handle liability. Considering how their legalese is written for other products, they would probably not take any responsibility AT ALL for anything their cars did. This is in very stark contrast to VOLVO that says the VOLVO company will assume full liability for accidents caused by their cars!<p><i>"But, if the car is in autonomous mode and causes a crash, Eugensson [Volvo Cars' director of government affairs] said Volvo will take responsibility. "It will be difficult to sell if the driver is still liable. It gives a false promise." </i><p><a href="http://www.cnet.com/news/a-ride-in-volvos-autonomous-car-how-the-next-step-in-driver-safety-requires-replacing-the-driver/" rel="nofollow">http://www.cnet.com/news/a-ride-in-volvos-autonomous-car-how...</a><p>Perhaps we will buy self-driving cars from how their contracts look and not from their tech specs.
Project Titan employees have a cover on their badges and pretty much nobody have access to their buildings. I know two new employees who went to Project Titan team that are heavily focused on computer vision.
It probably requires an Apple Watch to open the doors, using your required iPhone. The radio can only play Apple Music (subscription required). And do not forget to register with iCloud, otherwise the car will deny your ownership.<p>Not sure if am that much of an Apple fan to ever wanting to buy such car. Probably would feel like literally giving up all freedom of choice.
A self driving car seems untypical for Apple. The obvious model for self driving cars is basically Uber without drivers; a service rather than a device which you buy and own yourself. That seems more like a Google thing than an Apple thing to me.
The cited engineer's LinkedIn page[0] says that he worked for Lit Motors[1] through Jan 2015, then nothing - which seems to square with my mental model of Apple. The Lit Motors part piqued my interest since I'm a pre-orderer for their awesome looking self-balancing enclosed motorcycle/vehicle. He even went to the same university as I did, although for very different degrees.<p>0 = <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pub/frank-fearon/16/687/3a0" rel="nofollow">https://www.linkedin.com/pub/frank-fearon/16/687/3a0</a>
1 = <a href="http://litmotors.com" rel="nofollow">http://litmotors.com</a>
Here's what most people don't get about self-driving cars:<p>It's not the technology, it's the liability issues that have to be resolved before self-driving vehicles really become feasible.<p>Can you imagine the corporate finger pointing and circle jerking that's going to happen the first time somebody gets killed in an accident cause by a self-driven vehicle?<p>And somebody is bound to get killed because there is no way possible to code all of the possible scenarios that can happen on a road or guarantee 100% that the hardware will function properly.<p>I have yet to hear an insurance company step up and state how they are going to handle these issues.<p>It seems like a mess. I have a good driving record and enjoy pretty cheap insurance rates ($25/month from Insurance Panda). I also enjoy taking my car out for a spin and enjoying the ‘freedom’ of being able to drive anywhere. Will the driverless car allow all this? If not, I’ll have to pass.<p>I've also haven't heard an insurance company step up and say they will insure a self driving car. Until this happens all this talk about self driving cars is really a non-starter.
The Concord Naval Weapons Station where they plan to test: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concord_Naval_Weapons_Station" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concord_Naval_Weapons_Station</a><p>On Google Maps: <a href="https://goo.gl/maps/uOCwX" rel="nofollow">https://goo.gl/maps/uOCwX</a>
Cue some Google executive: <i>“We’ve learned and struggled for a few years here figuring out how to make a decent self-driving car,” he said. “Apple guys are not going to just figure this out. They’re not going to just walk in.”</i><p>(referencing Palm CEO's Ed Colligan’s remarks before the iPhone introduction).
My thinking is if Apple just did an electric iCar, they would already made a killing, and they can do it tomorrow morning. All you need is design and good supply logistics. No regulatory hassles to speak about, etc.. Self-driving car is great, yet not tomorrow. Technologically iPhone wasn't like self-driving car as there were phones+computer gadgets on the market before the iPhone, and in that regard iPhone was just like a better electric car would be today. Main innovation of iPhone was breaking back of cell provider - AT&T. Of course if Apple can break the back of DMV and put the self-driving car through regulatory hoops ... I will be so sorry to not have their stock :)
> GoMentum Station’s empty roads feature everything from highway overpasses and railway crossings to tunnels and cattle grids. These would enable Apple to test vehicles in a variety of realistic everyday situations but without exposing it to scrutiny.<p>Has Apple ever heard of drones? They won't be able to hide this much longer if they are testing it in the open.
Lowly Worm had a self-driving Apple car ages ago (it must have been self-driving... how else would a worm steer). REF <a href="http://bfy.tw/1Jdz" rel="nofollow">http://bfy.tw/1Jdz</a><p>And the ubiquity of that design as a child's pedal toy is precisely what should have some folks concerned.<p>Apple seems to have a long history of vendor lock on hardware components that go in to their systems. I expect they view self-driving cars as a similar opportunity -- for regulatory reasons they could push heavily for use of only vendor-supplied parts, resulting in a tightly closed system. I would also expect a limited number of models to enter the market each year -- just as we see for Apple computer products.<p>Contrast that with vehicles like the Honda Civic and Ford F150, where there is comparatively a large product range, and an even more enormous range of after-market parts for repair and customization.<p>I suspect self-driving cars will reach a point of market saturation when they become cheaper than human-driven cars, aided by vendors touting the extremely high safety ratings and environmental protection value.<p>And when self-driving cars are here in force, I expect we'll actually see the loss of ability to work on your own car that is decried today by folks who advocate classic car technology over cars with computer systems.<p>Within our community the real question around self-driving cars should be the ability to create an open platform, and whether this is a space that hobbyists should be permitted to operate. Without this, we'll all be driving Lowly's Apple car in a few years.
I doubt they work on a _self-driving_ car. Electric: yes. But self-driving? I am not sure how the Guardian came to that conclusion, other than looking at the military facility that in the past was used to test self-driving vehicles — _among other things_.
The self-driving car will be transformative, and it's important that no one company be the only game in town. If this seems like me-too-ism then it probably is, but that's a good thing for the world.