Apple car - page 6

Apple wants California to change self-driving car reports

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apple lexus
Apple's self-driving Lexus hits the streets of California.
Photo: Bloomberg

Just weeks after getting its permit to drive self-driving cars on public roads, Apple is already asking the California DMV to change reporting protocol requirements.

Apple sent the DMV a letter today arguing for changes to the rules for “disengagement reporting,” which if successfully implemented, would give the public less information about Apple’s self-driving vehicles.

Apple’s self-driving Lexus gets caught on camera

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Apple Car
Apple's first self-driving Lexus.
Photo: Bloomberg

Apple’s self-driving cars have been spotted in the wild for the first time, giving fans an early peek at the tech that could change roads forever.

The California DMV issued a permit to Apple earlier this month allowing it to test its self-driving cars on public roads. Apple is only registered to drive three Lexus cars around Silicon Valley, but the company is wasting no time in its efforts to catch up to the competition.

We deconstruct the new iPhone 8 leaks, this week on The CultCast

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iPhone 5's straight edges could be making a comeback.
iPhone 5's straight edges could be making a comeback.
Photo: Sonny Dickson

This week on The CultCast: We deconstruct the latest iPhone 8 leaks! We’ll tell what we’ve learned. Plus: Apple starts testing the driverless car it’s totally not working on; and the best iOS apps for all you marijuana connoisseurs.

Our thanks to Squarespace for supporting this episode. It’s simple to accept Apple Pay and sell your wares with your very own Squarespace.com website. Enter offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10 percent off any hosting plan.

Apple training documents leak details of self-driving car project

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lexus
The 2015 Lexus RX450h is Apple's vehicle of choice.
Photo: Lexus

Getting behind the wheel of one of Apple’s self-driving cars requires drivers to pass a series of tests, based on new information about the secretive project that leaked out today.

Details of Apple’s self-driving car program have been revealed by documents filed with the California DMV that shed light on the “Apple Automated System” currently under development.

How to spot Apple’s self-driving cars in the wild

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tim cook in a car
Tim Cook and Apple are getting serious about the auto industry.
Photo: Tim Cook/Twitter

Apple finally received permission from the California DMW to test self-driving cars on public roads this week, but spotting an Apple Car in the wild won’t be easy for fans.

Instead of making its own automobile for the streets, Apple will simply be testing its autonomous vehicle software using other company’s cars. Apple has permission to drive only three cars, so seeing them on the road might be tough.

Here’s what to look for.

Nostalgia fuels these wacky Apple Car concepts

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iCar concept
The color iMac G3 is classic, but could it be a classic car?
Photo: NeoMam Studios

Part of you wishes you still had a blueberry iMac G3 sitting on your desk. But would you buy a car that looked just like it?

A marketing company, joining in on the excitement surrounding longtime rumors of an Apple car, came up with five concepts that are inspired by landmark Apple products.

Apple is hiring more automotive mapping experts

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Apple Maps reservation OpenTable
Apple is working to improve its mapping services.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple’s continuing to ramp up its automotive mapping experts by poaching employees from the German company Here, owned by Audi, BMW, and Daimler.

A new report claims that Apple has hired around a dozen employees over the past several months for software or mapping-related roles.

Samsung buys connected car company Harman for $8 billion

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Screen Shot 2016-11-14 at 15.30.44
Samsung's latest big purchase is its biggest yet.
Photo: Harman

In its biggest-ever overseas purchase, Samsung bought automotive tech company Harman International Industries for a massive $8 billion.

Samsung referred to automotive electronics as a “strategic priority” going forward, which — as with its current positioning in the smartphone industry — makes the Korean company a major rival or resource for Cupertino as it continues its own investigations into a possible Apple Car.

Apple’s first AR product may arrive by 2018

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hololens by microsoft
All Apple has to do is making something that looks less dorky than this.
Photo: Microsoft

Apple’s stalling autonomous car project caused the company to shift its attention to augmented reality, according to analyst Ming Chi Kuo, who says the company is racing ahead of the competition when it comes to AR.

In a new note to investors, the KGI Securities analyst says Apple’s decision to develop a self-driving platform instead of an entire electric car makes sense. The company will use augmented reality to provide an incredible experience, he predicts.

Apple squeezes Blackberry to build carOS

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Ford CarPlay
CarPlay has a new podcasts player.
Photo: Ford

The rotting corpse of Blackberry Ltd. may provide the extra juice needed to get Apple’s car project rolling.

Apple has reportedly poached key engineers from BlackBerry’s QNX team in Canada to help develop the operating system for its self-driving car. And the iPhone-maker has set up shop just five-minutes away from the QNX offices.

Apple hits reboot button on electric car project

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apple car
A rendering of an Apple car with a different kind of bumper
Photo: Motor1

Project Titan, Apple’s secret electric car program that was greenlit by Tim Cook two years ago, is facing a serious crisis.

The iPhone maker has reportedly laid off dozens of employees that were working on the auto project, even though the company has already started testing a couple of autonomous vehicles the team built.

Ford plans to make ride-hailing service with autonomous cars

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Ford is ready for the future of self-driving cars.
Ford is ready for the future of self-driving cars.
Photo: Mike Mozart/Flickr

The next time you buy Ford, instead of buying a car to keep you might just get access to an entire fleet of autonomous cars.

Ford CEO Mark Fields revealed today during a meeting with employees in Palo Alto that not only is the company building an autonomous car, it plans to launch an entire fleet of autonomous vehicle by 2021 to create its own ride-hailing service by 2021.

Faraday Future poaches Apple Car’s navigation engineer

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Faraday Future's concept car looks like a batmobile.
Faraday Future's concept car looks like a batmobile.
Photo: Faraday Future

Apple’s efforts to build a self-driving electric car hit another speed bump recently after the company lost its navigation engineer to electric car startup Faraday Future.

Computer vision and vehicle navigation specialist Bart Nabbe was working with Apple’s not-so-secret Project Titan team for nearly the last two years, but his LinkedIn profile now shows that he’s at Faraday Future serving as the director of strategic partnerships.

Apple Car may not be an articulated tank after all

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Maintenance personnel from the 5055th Range Squadron drive an M-973 small unit support vehicle through the snow.
Tank different.
Photo: Wikipedia CC

You can breath a sigh of relief: Apple’s forthcoming Project Titan apparently isn’t going to be an articulated tank, after all!

As it turns out, the patent which circulated yesterday — showing how Apple had acquired a patent for allowing an articulated vehicle to survive gunfire or harsh weather situations — should never have been signed over to Cupertino in the first place.

Apple Car may use hollow batteries to stay cool

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Charging the Apple Car.
Apple is making revolutionary batteries for its car.
Photo: Motor1

Apple might team up with “expert technologists in batteries” from South Korea to create hollow lithium-ion power cells that will fuel the upcoming Apple Car, according to a new report.

While the name of the South Korean company hasn’t been revealed due to a nondisclosure agreement with Apple, it’s supposedly comprised of just 20 people. The South Korean team reportedly joined Apple’s secretive Project Titan automotive effort earlier this year, and the battery innovations could help the Apple Car stand out from the competition.

Unexpected Apple military patent is basically MagSafe for tanks

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Maintenance personnel from the 5055th Range Squadron drive an M-973 small unit support vehicle through the snow.
Your Apple Car? Probably not, to be honest.
Photo: Wikipedia CC

With Project Titan reportedly gathering momentum, it might come as no surprise to hear that Apple was granted a vehicle-related patent today.

What might surprise you a bit more is that this doesn’t relate to the Apple Car many people are expecting — but rather to robust steering controls for an articulated truck, originally filed by a company which manufactures and sells military vehicles.

How the Apple Car will make you money, and more fun about robot vehicles [Kahney’s Korner]

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Kahney's Korner podcast with robocar expert Paul Godsmark
Autonomous cars are going to change the world like nothing we've seen before. A fascinating interview with robocar expert Paul Godsmark.
Photo: Paul Godsmark/Stephen Smith

The old adage is that new cars depreciate the minute you buy them. However, the rumored Apple car might be the first vehicle to actually make you money after you drive it off the lot.

If Apple’s car is autonomous, it’ll earn its keep delivering people or goods when you’re not using it. So says Paul Godsmark, a robocar consultant and one of the leading experts on the upcoming autonomous vehicle revolution.

In this fascinating interview, Godsmark talks about the enormous changes that are coming up fast with self-driving vehicles, including Project Titan, the rumored Apple Car.

Buckle up! Everything is about to change dramatically — from the way we travel to the way we work.

Apple turns car ambitions toward self-driving system

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CarPlay
Your next car probably won't have an Apple logo.
Photo: Hyundai

As Apple’s “secret” electric car project gains momentum, the company continues to pick up top talent for their automotive experience.

Its latest hire is Dan Dodge, founder and former CEO of QNX, who was recently the head of BlackBerry’s automotive software team. The move comes after “Project Titan,” the codename for Apple Car, started to take a whole new direction.