Apple aims to launch self-driving electric car in 2025, says report

[brooklynite]

Source: The Guardian

Apple is stepping up its plans to enter the car market and aims to launch a self-driving electric vehicle in 2025, according to a report.

The tech company’s much-rumoured automotive project has bolstered its ambitions under new leadership and is pushing for a fully self-driving vehicle with no steering wheel or pedals, said Bloomberg. The car’s interior would be designed for hands-off driving, with one possible design featuring passengers sitting around a U-shaped seating formation.

Apple’s below-the-radar car venture – known as Project Titan – was dealt an apparent blow in September when the executive in charge of its development, Doug Field, defected to Ford. But the iPhone maker appears undaunted by the challenge of entering the competitive electric vehicle market despite a number of senior leadership changes at Titan this year, Field’s the most significant among them.

Bloomberg reported that the ambitious targets have been set by Field’s replacement, the Apple Watch software executive Kevin Lynch. He is aiming for a fully self-driving car within four years – if the company can pull off a self-driving system within that timeframe.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/nov/18/apple-aims-to-launch-self-driving-electric-car-in-2025-says-report

[jimfields33]

1. Progress! I love progress!!!!

We are living in very exciting technological times and will get even more exciting.

[Upthevibe]

2. Kick. N/T

[PoliticAverse]

3. "and is pushing for a fully self-driving vehicle with no steering wheel or pedals" - so...

it will be driven from a driving app on your iPhone then?

No steering wheel is not happening for a vehicle meant to be driven by regular people in 4 years.

[brooklynite]

4. Consider the following...

Apple MAP app determines the route to follow.

Adaptive cruise control (existing technology) keeps the car at distance from anything in front)

Lane monitors (existing technology) keeps the care from drifting

Side monitors (existing technology) monitors lane changes for approaching traffic

[PoliticAverse]

6. And then it snows and there are no lanes. You can make a car that handles 95% of conditions...

it's the other 5% you need the steering wheel for. And the last 5% is very hard.

[Journeyman]

19. And there will always be those times when the human factor must be considered . . .

Will the car make the determination to crash and kill you to avoid killing a child?

I would make that choice. But will iCar?

[Angleae]

28. Apple maps? The same one that tells people to turn into the lake?

[PoliticAverse]

31. Several people die each year as a result of using GPS and downloaded maps....

to make driving decisions.

[joshcryer]

5. Owning a car will be a thing of the past.

You will pay ride share taxi services to get around.

And compared to the cost of ownership it will be very affordable. Say $100 a month for a specific amount of rides.

Will also bring down the requirement for traffic cops (80% of the police force are traffic cops). Will bolster freedom in that cops won't be able to do drug stops or anything like that. Will probably have a fail safe of course in the event a criminal hires the ride share and the cops notify the ride share company they are in the vehicle. Will require a warrant though.

[OnlinePoker]

10. And if you want to travel cross country?

I'm not a fan of flying. Sometimes (two or three times a year), I just want to get in my car and drive away for a few days.

[joshcryer]

13. I mean, they will not phase them out for a long time.

Probably in our lifetimes there will be cars on the road still. But getting a drivers license and insurance will be prohibitive. And the big three (Tesla, Google, Apple) will almost certainly lobby to get civilian licenses fully banned and the only operators of those kinds of vehicles will be commercial laborers (still need guys to drive tractors, dump trucks, etc).

Meanwhile you pay the $300 fee for "unlimited rides" and just take a ride share across the whole country, RV style self-driving machines that have a toilet, kitchen, all of that good stuff. Watch a couple of movies as you go on your cross country tour.

[FrodosNewPet]

29. I'm gonna miss lunchtime naps a work

And will these cars be able to drive on the "two tracks" out in the woods? Will it be smart enough to know what to do if it meets up with another car?

Will the police be able to over-ride the car and bring you to jail instead of where you THOUGHT you were going?

2021 and they STILL have some major judgement issues.

[joshcryer]

30. You could in theory hire a ride nap car.

I expect that sort of thing is viable, too. Cars would be extensions of your personal lifestyle. Could hire a mini car with a kitchen in it and do your own lunches, stuff like that. It could even order the made fresh food right from another location. I think the options are pretty unlimited as to what services these cars and AI can provide.

[SunSeeker]

7. We're nowhere near ready for self-driving cars. And Apple has never made a car.

Let alone a workable self-driving car. Can we first make practical, family-friendly EVs that can be charged in 10 minutes? That will be much better for the world.

[OnlinePoker]

11. Tesla has 100's of millions of miles of practical data and haven't got the bugs worked out. n/t

[SunSeeker]

17. Yup...

https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/us-identifies-12th-tesla-assisted-systems-car-crash-involving-emergency-vehicle-2021-09-01/

[Jacson6]

8. The cost of Apple Launching a self-driving car is going to be outrageous!

Hopefully, they will partner with Tesla or GM. They would have to build huge factories and obtain tons of raw material.

[brooklynite]

9. The price of every new technology is outrageous...

...and then in drops as the technology becomes reproducible.

[joshcryer]

14. Musk says self driving is worth $100k.

ie, he can extract at least $100k out of the consumer using self driving taxis. They aren't going to be selling these cars to consumers. It'll be subscription model based. Ironically the cars real value, if it is electric, in its battery for vehicle to grid energy storage. The vehicle sitting in a parking garage can provide baseload power. It costs about $12 per "fill up" in a max load Tesla. A car like that, therefore, can "store" $12 worth of electricity. In one year, that's upwards of $4,500. Over its lifetime of about 20,000 cycles (the new 8620 iron battery they are making), its battery alone has over $200,000 worth of baseload storage value.

These cars are going to change everything.

These vehicles have such economic potential that it's crazy. At some point we're going to have to address UBI because the systems will be so well designed and efficient people will wonder what we're doing with ourselves.

[Justice matters.]

12. November 18, 2025. Breaking news: Self-driving car hits elderly man crossing the street...

Apple says it was a undetected bug that caused the 88-years-old man's accidental death and said it is working overnight for a bug-fixing software update.

[dalton99a]

15. Driverless AppleCar kills pedestrian, traumatizing passengers: "We were helpless!"

"It happened so fast we didn't have time to do the thing in the manual that says Press-and-quickly-release-the-Up-button and Press-and-quickly-release-the-Down-button and Press-and-hold-the-side-button-until-you-see-the-Apple-logo"

[Justice matters.]

16. Eggzackleeee

Watta World!

With less and less empathy, only a mindless rush to unlimited profits.

[Slammer]

18. real life

So if I want to drive this car from my driveway to the back of my house so I can take a load of groceries directly into the kitchen or a load of crap from the hardware store into my shop, this car is totally incapable of doing that?

Oh, I foresee huge sales for this vehicle.

I wonder how it handles backing up six inches, or moving over six inches, in my driveway? Good luck communicating your specific needs to this car.

[Auggie]

20. What about planned obsolescence? Will we have to upgrade every five years?

[dalton99a]

21. Your Battery Health will go down with every software update

to encourage the purchase of a new battery or a new model every three years

[Auggie]

24. Thanks!

[Blues Heron]

22. Obsolete before you get it home

and it wont be talking to your ipod for tunes either

[Danascot]

23. I just hope it won't be using Apple maps.

[Ron Obvious]

25. The jokes write themselves, don't they?

The hood will be sealed shut, you won't really be in charge of anything in your own vehicle, etc, etc.

No thanks.

[twodogsbarking]

26. Your next one hundred miles will cost $ 2.23.

Your card has been charged.

[brooklynite]

27. Update: Apple stock hit a new high ($160) on news of car.