Apple PRIVATELY Demos Its AI-assisted, Self-driving Car Tech — Are You Putting Money On Apple To Deliver The Goods?

If you haven't been asleep at the wheel, you probably have been noticing that there is a race going on. It's between the automakers and the technology providers.

Who can deliver a fully fledged, self-driving auto?

One would think that it should go to the auto manufacturers but if we're honest that's not always a safe bet. Just look at how much the auto space has been disrupted in the past 24 months thanks to the likes of Tesla, self-driving tech and ride sharing services.

The space appears to be grossly underprepared when it comes to a war to the middle.

So when Apple does a demo of its very own, proprietary self-driving auto technology you have to wonder: Why? This is a company that keeps everything under lock and key.

Do YOU feel that Apple will be the first company to deliver the public what it wants?

A driverless car system under development at Apple has been showcased to a select group of machine learning experts.

The firm's director of AI is reported to have shared secret details of its ongoing automated motoring projects at an industry event.

This is believed to included the tech company's self-driving technology that uses laser sensors, called 'VoxelNet', to spot cyclists and pedestrians...

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MDarringer - 12/12/2017 8:16:34 AM

-1 Boost

While I have tremendous faith in Apple, my concern would be their lack of automotive engineering expertise. I have 100% faith that they can develop systems and software, but an AI car is still a car and a car needs to be designed as a cohesive whole by a company that knows what it's doing.

I suspect that Apple will make a fortune by licensing and partnering with car makers.

carloslassiter - 12/12/2017 1:28:52 PM

0 Boost

Let the record reflect that I agree with Darringer.

TheSteve - 12/12/2017 5:24:48 PM

+1 Boost

My understanding is that automotive manufacturers are suspicious of autonomous systems developed by other companies, such as Apple. Their concern is that the autonomous system is a "black box", designed, developed, and built by a third-party, to the third-party's specification. Vehicle manufacturers feel this surrenders too much control to a third party, which is typically one that has no automotive expertise, like Apple or Google.

Apple's expertise is in making personal computers (and the OS), smartphones, tablets, selling/renting media through the iTune Store, and to a much lesser degree, some peripherals for these devices.

Consequently, automakers are developing their own autonomous systems, under their own direction and control, to meet their own needs, and to differentiate themselves from the competition. This reflects the early days of computing, when various OSes proliferated. Over time, they eventually settled out to Windows, Mac OS, and Unix. A similar thing happened with smartphone OSes, which have eventually settled out to just Android and iOS. Something similar might happen with car autonomous systems. We're still in the infancy days. No standards have been set yet.

MDarringer - 12/12/2017 8:34:47 PM

0 Boost

I was saying that Apple would license the use of technology and then PARTNER with a car maker to design the car. Thus it would not be third party.

zlives - 12/13/2017 2:56:20 PM

-1 Boost

i may trust them once they fix their maps app.