self-driving cars

Today in Apple history: Apple teams with Volkswagen for iBeetle car

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The first Apple car, a collaboration with VW known as the iBeetle, rolls onto the scene.
The first Apple car, a collaboration with VW known as the iBeetle, rolls onto the scene.
Photo: Volkswagen

April 22: Today in Apple history: Apple teams with VW for the iBeetle. It's the first Apple car! April 22, 2013: The world gets its first Apple car. Well, kind of.

In reality, the iBeetle is a collaboration with German automaker Volkswagen that offers a car “stylistically linked” to Apple. This means Apple-inspired colors, a built-in docking station for your iPhone, and a special app that lets you control the car’s features.

Apple car just got a lot less ambitious

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It looks like Apple's car will have a steering wheel after all.
It looks like Apple's car will have a steering wheel after all.
Photo: Anna Vi/Unsplash License

Apple’s plan for a completely autonomous vehicle has gone back onto the drawing board, according to a reliable source. The company supposedly is still prepping an electric car but the self-driving capabilities much more limited.

The Apple car could reach customers in about four years.

Apple car is a hit before it’s even announced

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Apple CarPlay's interface will be more integrated, and perhaps more Apple Car-like, in iOS 16
Apple CarPlay's interface in iOS 16 may reveal the instrument panel for a future Apple Car.
Photo: Apple

Although Apple has yet to even admit it’s working on a self-driving electric vehicle, plenty of people want to buy a car from Cupertino. Almost a third of recent car buyers say they’d consider an Apple car. And that includes more than half of Tesla owners.

It seems clear that if the Mac-maker can transform itself into an automaker, it could have a real hit on its hands.

Apple aims to build self-driving car with no steering wheel

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Apple reportedly wants to eliminate the steering wheel and pedals from its autonomous vehicle.
Apple reportedly wants to eliminate the steering wheel and pedals from its autonomous vehicle.
Photo: Samuele Errico Piccarini/Unsplash CC

Apple is reportedly committed to making a car capable of driving completely autonomously. The new head of the project won’t be satisfied with a vehicle with only limited capabilities.

The car might not need a steering wheel or pedals at all. And it could be on the road by 2025.

Top Apple car exec hits off-ramp, heads for Detroit instead

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That's the signpost up ahead - your next stop, the Apple Car. The Apple Car is way down the highway. But Apple has the pedal to the metal.
The man reportedly running Apple car development has taken an exit.
Photo illustration: Cult of Mac/Wikipedia CC

Development of an Apple car just hit another speed bump. Doug Field, who’d reportedly been managing the project, just left to join the Ford Motor Company.

This is surely a blow to Apple’s secretive automotive efforts. And the company was already multiple years away from having anything to put in a showroom, according to the latest leaks.

Foxconn electric vehicle teamup makes it better fit for producing Apple Car

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Foxconn electric vehicle teamup with Fisker makes it a better fit for producing the Apple Car.
Fisker turned to Foxconn to product an electric vehicle. Apple might someday do the same.
Photo: Fisker

A deal between Foxconn and Fisker might eventually lead to Apple having its self-driving car produced by the same company that assembles iPhones.

Electric vehicle-maker Fisker agreed on Wednesday to team up with Foxconn to develop a “breakthrough electric vehicle.” Foxconn will manufacture the car.

Apple car might never need a driver

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Apple Car
You may someday ride in an Apple Car but you’ll never drive one. You’ll program it instead.
Photo: Torsten Dettlaff/Pexels CC

No one will ever drive an Apple car, according to leaked information. Apple is reportedly planning a vehicle that’s completely autonomous. It’ll be programmed, not driven.

That would make it less like what Tesla offers and more like what Alphabet’s Waymo is developing.

Cupertino poaches Porsche chassis expert for Apple car

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The Apple Car could be partially designed by a man who designed this Porsche.
A man who helped design this Porsche is allegedly now working on the Apple Car.
Photo: Porsche

Apple reportedly hired Manfred Harrer for its top-secret self-driving vehicle project. It’s a telling move because Harrer previously was head of chassis development at Porsche. This is a clear sign that the Mac-maker is planning an Apple car, not simply an autonomous vehicle system to be licensed to automakers.

Apple keeps bringing in Tesla execs for Apple Car

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That's the signpost up ahead - your next stop, the Apple Car. The Apple Car is way down the highway. But Apple has the pedal to the metal.
The Apple Car is way down the highway. But Apple has the pedal to the metal.
Photo illustration: Cult of Mac/Wikipedia CC

Apple’s plan to make a self-driving vehicle is back on track, according to an unconfirmed report from a very reliable source. But the Apple Car won‘t be out for several years.

Still, as part of the effort the company recently snapped up Tesla’s head of autonomous vehicle software development  to work on the project.

Apple Car might not drive off the lot before 2028

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An Apple Car is supposedly in development, though it probably won‘t look anything like this.
A driverless vehicle from Apple might not hit the roads for close to a decade.
Graphic: hatzfeld/Pixabay CC/Cult of Mac

A respected Apple analyst and prognosticator threw cold water on recent reports about a future Apple Car arriving in the next few years. Ming-Chi Kuo says it’s possible a self-driving vehicle from Apple could land in 2025, but he wouldn’t be surprised if the launch doesn’t happen before 2028.

Innovative batteries might power Apple Car by 2024

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An Apple Car looks increasingly likely.
An Apple Car for your family might be ready in 2024.
Photo: Cult of Mac

Apple is reportedly prepping an an autonomous vehicle that’s aimed at the consumer market. Leaked information indicates Apple is going to make a car and sell it to the public, not just develop self-driving technology to license to other companies.

Apple Car production supposedly will begin in 2024 using cutting-edge battery technology.

Amazon acquires self-driving startup that employs former Apple Car workers [Updated]

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Amazon buys self-driving car startup Zoox
More than a dozen Zoox employees worked on the Apple Car project before it was scaled back.
Photo: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory/Flickr CC

Amazon is buying Zoox, a self-driving car startup that employs at least 17 people who previously worked on Apple’s Project Titan.

The Information first reported the purchase of Zoox, and Amazon confirmed it Friday in a blog post. The deal could set Amazon back upward of $1 billion.

How Apple’s self-driving car fleet fared on California roads last year

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Here's how Apple Car might eliminate blind spots
Will an Apple Car ever be available to buy?
Photo: Aristomenis Tsirbas/Freelancer

Only 23 of Apple’s registered self-driving cars were active between December 2018 and November 2019, according to data provided to California’s Department of Motor Vehicles. In total, Apple’s fleet of modified Lexus RX450h SUVs travelled 7,544 miles during the period.

That’s down from the 79,745 miles its vehicles travelled in the previous year.

Woz: I don’t think true self-driving cars will arrive in my lifetime

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Woz: I don’t think true self-driving cars will arrive in my lifetime
Woz isn't convinced the technology will arrive any time soon.
Photo: Nichollas Harrison/Wikimedia Commons CC

Apple is working hard on a self-driving car project, but company co-founder Steve “Woz” Wozniak seemingly isn’t convinced that autonomous vehicles will be ruling the roads anytime soon.

At a recent auto conference, Woz pulled back his predictions about when self-driving cars will take over; saying that there are too many challenges in Level 5 autonomous vehicles.

Apple hires top Drive.ai talent as self-driving startup shuts down

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Drive.ai self-driving car
Drive.ai is dead.
Photo: Drive.ai

Self-driving car startup Drive.ai is reportedly shutting down — and Apple is scooping up the talent.

Drive.ai, which made kits that turn regular cars into self-driving cars, notified the Employment Development Department of California that it was shutting down and laying off all 90 of its employees. Apple was reportedly looking into acquiring the company earlier this month. Instead, Cupertino decided to just hire some of its key employees.

Google AI expert jumps ship for Apple

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Siri
Siri needs all the help it can get.
Photo: Apple

One of Google’s top AI experts has left the company to join Apple’s special projects group.

Ian Goodfellow, who created an AI approach called general adversarial networks (GANs), was hired by Apple as a director of machine learning, adding another prominent Google AI expert to its growing team.

Apple gives a glimpse inside its self-driving vehicle program

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Project Titan
Apple is putting tremendous effort into ensuring test autonomous vehicles are safe, safe, safe.
Photo: Idiggapple/Twitter

A whitepaper describing the elaborate safety procedures used in Apple’s automated car development program seems intended to assure government regulators and the public that the company is making every effort to prevent accidents.

As a bonus, the document gives some insight into the automated vehicle Apple is creating.

Apple’s self-driving car project isn’t quite ready for prime time

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Here's how Apple Car might eliminate blind spots
Apple Car still needs some improvement.
Photo: Aristomenis Tsirbas/Freelancer

Apple’s autonomous car project is certainly exciting for Apple fans. It’s likely to be a while longer before the company is ready to officially launch what it’s been working on, however.

That’s according to a new “Disengagement Report” which covers the period December 2017 through November 2018. It refers to instances in which self-driving vehicles being tested on California roads had to pass control back to the human driver behind the wheel.

Ride over for 200 employees of Apple’s autonomous vehicle program

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Apple Car might be coming, but will it be special?
Apple keeps so quiet about its vehicle program that this concept someone dreamed up is the best image we have.
Image: Aristomenis Tsirbas/Freelancer

Normally, Apple keeps mum about its self-driving car program but it has officially acknowledged a bit of restructuring in the project. This involved a reduction in its headcount.

The employees weren’t fired, and the move is being positioned as a restructuring after a new manager joined the program in August.

Apple may hit the brakes on autonomous vehicle program

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Project Titan
Apple’s test vehicles from its self-driving car project could be headed for the highway exit.
Photo: Idiggapple/Twitter

Apple’s self-driving car development could be headed for a cliff. Maybe. A questionable report from industry analysts says that there are layoffs in this division and the whole project might even be scrapped.

The cause is supposedly the slowdown in iPhone sales caused by the weakening Chinese economy. The reduction in revenue leaves less room for non-core programs.