From talking to people working on this project, there's always been some sort of interesting paradox in terms of dealing with the potential of bad PR due to accidents and fatalities linked to self driving versus one of Apple’s most valuable asset: its brand.
Perhaps they will be some calculated outcome in whatever product comes out of that org, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they end up pivoting to high quality cars with assisted driving (at best).
If Apple decides to begin manufacturing cars, would their prior experience with manufacturing help or is the domain sufficiently different for there not to be any significant knowledge carryover?<p>Are there any major or significant AI researchers working at Apple? It seems like I only ever hear about the big industry names moving between other big tech companies, but I'm not aware of anyone impactful in the AI space working at Apple. Maybe one of the key factors is that a lot of AI researchers like to publish their findings and Apple seems to be notoriously secretive? So even if Apple has a lot of top-tier researchers, maybe they're not publishing as much.
Has there been any vaguely reliable suggestion about their planned approach? An entire vehicle? Retrofitting existing vehicles? A layer that is licensed to auto partners? A new category of vehicle?
The iPhone was Apple's peak. The car will be their undoing.<p>Can you imagine getting trying to get an Apple car repaired? They'll likely force you to buy your tires from them. Wheels on the Mac Pro cost hundreds, wheels for your Apple car will start at 2k each and will be serial locked to one vehicle.
Via CarPlay, Apple can already own the interesting parts of every car, so why get wrapped up in all the messy bits? Seems like they could do just as well buying up someone else who already has the car bits figured out, especially supply chain and distribution.
> the company was “focusing on autonomous systems, and clearly one purpose of autonomous systems is self-driving cars.”<p>So autonomous systems != cars<p>Is Apple's foray into autonomous systems purely for R&D, keeping engineering staff engaged, and spend some cash?<p>I recall seeing a video of Tim Cook being asked if Apple was building a car and he said something like Apple looks at a lot of things.<p>To me, and this is just a theory, Apple car was something to keep the media distracted from other developments. For example, Mac Rumors says the Apple Vision Pro was in development for over 10 years. But the first time I heard about the rumor of an VR/AR headset was in 2021.<p>Cars are a whole different competency then consumer electronics. Regulations, service centers, spare parts—talk about a headache! And imagine the fallout if an Apple car crashes or strands someone in the dead of winter. The automotive industry is notorious for turning brand loyalists into disgruntled critics. I see it all the time- people who swear they will never buy BMW, Merc, Jag, Kia, and Jeep.<p>Apple likes to squeeze suppliers. Would they be able to squeeze LG Chem or BYD for batteries on this self-driving electric car? Perhaps Apple Car will have a cheap under powered Hyundai 1.6L turbo and the Apple Car Pro will be electric.