Apple is reportedly downplaying its car aspirations, at least for now. BloombergMark Gurman he says the company’s decade-long car project has become more like an EV than planning a fully self-driving car. Tesla’s. The the so-called “Apple Car” It is now predicted to start as early as 2028 – two years later the company’s last reported target date.
The car’s autonomous features have reportedly been downgraded from a Level 5 system (full automation) to a Level 4 system (full automation in some cases) and now to a Level 2+ one (partial automation). This would mean that it offers limited self-driving features such as lane centering and brake/acceleration support, while requiring the driver’s full attention.
Tesla’s Autopilot is classified as Level 2. Level 2+ is not an official designation, but is sometimes used informally to describe a more advanced version of Level 2.
What Apple once envisioned as a car without a steering wheel or pedals, perhaps with a remote control center ready to take over the driver, now looks more like a Tesla-like market entry.
Bloomberg “Apple” considers the reduction of the scale of the project “a major point”. People familiar with Apple’s plans allegedly believe that the delivery of the Apple Car, which has been lowered with low expectations, could make or break the entire project. “Either the company can finally deliver this product with lower expectations, or senior executives can seriously reconsider the existence of the project,” Gurman wrote.
Apple has reportedly spoken to potential manufacturing partners in Europe about the updated strategy. Bloomberg The company still says it wants to offer a Level 4 autonomous system at some point, even as its debut is on track for something more substantial.
Bloomberg CEO Tim Cook, Apple board and project manager Kevin Lynch. The latter later took over former leader Doug Field is gone in 2021. (Field is a former Tesla engineering chief who now leads Ford’s EV wing.) The board is reportedly pushing management on a plan for the car through 2023.
After a good start out of the blocks, self-driving cars 2023 did not go well. Cruise, GM’s robotics division, laid off 24 percent of the workforce in December. It followed one of the company’s cars dragged the pedestrian was hit by another car. Then it was as fast as the California DMV Suspended Cruise’s self-driving permits over safety concerns. On the brighter side, Waymo looks good. But government standards are a wild card in this equation, and perhaps Apple has seen the wind blowing in a direction that calls for caution.
Apple’s Project Titan has been the subject of rumors ever since at least the mid-2010s. The company spent hundreds of millions of dollars on this initiative. According to Gurman, it worked on “powertrains, self-driving hardware and software, interior and exterior parts of the vehicle, and other key components.” Given how many times the details of the expensive project have changed, don’t be surprised if they do it again.
