Earlier quoted context omitted.
Might as well call Apple an "electronics business, both small and large."
Amazon sells retail themed logistics. Apple sells consumer computing themed user experience.
What does Yamaha sell?
Apple Scales Back Its Ambitions for a Self-Driving Car
171–180 of 434 posts
Re: Apple Scales Back Its Ambitions for a Self-Driving Car
#172If they scale them down even more than they already have, we'll end up with a horse drawn buggy. Hey, it's self driving!
They'll do just fine with their self-driving hype. :)
Re: Apple Scales Back Its Ambitions for a Self-Driving Car
#173Earlier quoted context omitted.
We have the iPhone because Apple was so ambitious. Imagine if they had just partnered with existing phone manufacturers rather than trying to build a magic touch slate. Wait, we do know what would have happened - the Motorola ROKR, which everyone should be forgiven for forgetting.
> We have the iPhone because Apple was so ambitious. When you say that, you conventiently forget that Apple re -invented the smartphone. It was an proven thing, which already sold in spades in the tech/enterprise market. They took something which existed and was awkward to use, and re-did the UI layer of the whole thing. They refined something else which was already proven. They didn't invent something original from…
Also, the iPhone was preceded by years of producing iPods, which at least gave them expertise in portable electronics. What has Apple produced that is remotely similar to an automobile? It's not just design expertise, but the supply chain and manufacturing. Auto parts industry is massive. Is controlling the parts for a computer on the same scale as for an entire automobile? I suppose if Tesla can do it...but Tessa's cars so far don't seem as ambitious as what Project Titan was looking at.
Re: Apple Scales Back Its Ambitions for a Self-Driving Car
#174Earlier quoted context omitted.
We have the iPhone because Apple was so ambitious. Imagine if they had just partnered with existing phone manufacturers rather than trying to build a magic touch slate. Wait, we do know what would have happened - the Motorola ROKR, which everyone should be forgiven for forgetting.
> We have the iPhone because Apple was so ambitious. When you say that, you conventiently forget that Apple re -invented the smartphone. It was an proven thing, which already sold in spades in the tech/enterprise market. They took something which existed and was awkward to use, and re-did the UI layer of the whole thing. They refined something else which was already proven. They didn't invent something original from…
> When you say that, you conventiently forget that Apple re-invented the smartphone. It was an proven thing, which already sold in spades in the tech/enterprise market.
Isn't a car a proven thing? All apple is need to do is re-invent it and slap a nice AI on top of it.
Re: Apple Scales Back Its Ambitions for a Self-Driving Car
#175This is a weirdly titled report which implies it just happened. The "Apple scales back" part was already reported first by Bloomberg last year (which seems to be behind a paywall now) [1]. Bob Mansfield was brought on to refocus Project Titan on the fundamentals (being self-driving) rather that producing a car [2]. But both of these reports have the exact same hedging: >Apple Inc. has drastically scaled back its auto…
Looks like John Gruber has confirmed what I suspected. https://daringfireball.net/2017/08/titan_nyt
Looks like he didn't confirm anything at all.
Re: Apple Scales Back Its Ambitions for a Self-Driving Car
#176“From the beginning, the employees dedicated to Project Titan looked at a wide range of details. That included motorized doors that opened and closed silently. They also studied ways to redesign a car interior without a steering wheel or gas pedals, and they worked on adding virtual or augmented reality into interior displays. The team also worked on a new light and ranging detection sensor, also known as lidar. Lida…
Spherical wheels are such a stupid, dangerous idea. The contact patch on regular tires is already tiny. Make them spherical and the contact patch becomes even smaller, which will cause them to lose traction and spin out in any rapid maneuver (like to avoid a collision).
Only if you massively increase the PSI so that the tire stays spherical.
If you keep the PSI at normal levels the contact patch will be exactly the same size as it is now, and the tire will deform on the bottom. So just design it to be extra flexible.
Re: Apple Scales Back Its Ambitions for a Self-Driving Car
#177Earlier quoted context omitted.
Over the decades I've noticed how businesses need to recognize and focus on their core competencies - if they don't, they die. Everything must feed that core, and undue distractions are lethal. Occasionally there's a need to pivot , which is deliberately stepping from one competency to another, but that is rare and difficult. Apple's core is to build small computers; everything else they do (music, video, cloud servi…
When companies focus on just one thing in a vertical, they're incredibly vulnerable. Samsung does lots of things fairly well, with some hiccups, well beyond just personal electronics and home appliances. It's diversification. EDIT: Samsung does all sorts of things including ship-building, life insurance, construction and advertising. For example, Apple MacBook Pros have become uncool, expensive, unrepairable and impr…
>EDIT: Samsung does all sorts of things including ship-building, life insurance, construction and advertising.
You can't compare a conglomerate to an integrated company.
Re: Apple Scales Back Its Ambitions for a Self-Driving Car
#178If Apple were truly serious about building self-driving cars, they would buy one of the big 3 US auto manufacturers. It could buy all 3 with cash and still have one of the largest hoards of cash ever accumulated.
Over the decades I've noticed how businesses need to recognize and focus on their core competencies - if they don't, they die. Everything must feed that core, and undue distractions are lethal. Occasionally there's a need to pivot , which is deliberately stepping from one competency to another, but that is rare and difficult. Apple's core is to build small computers; everything else they do (music, video, cloud servi…
Apple's forte, above anyone's, is merging software and hardware. Level 5 autonomous cars align perfectly with their core competency.
Re: Apple Scales Back Its Ambitions for a Self-Driving Car
#179Earlier quoted context omitted.
We have the iPhone because Apple was so ambitious. Imagine if they had just partnered with existing phone manufacturers rather than trying to build a magic touch slate. Wait, we do know what would have happened - the Motorola ROKR, which everyone should be forgiven for forgetting.
> We have the iPhone because Apple was so ambitious. When you say that, you conventiently forget that Apple re -invented the smartphone. It was an proven thing, which already sold in spades in the tech/enterprise market. They took something which existed and was awkward to use, and re-did the UI layer of the whole thing. They refined something else which was already proven. They didn't invent something original from…
Yup, exactly this. They have no idea how to make a self driving car so wasted time on other things hoping someone will solve the actual hard part.
It's pretty common when given an impossible project, and you need to show something.
Re: Apple Scales Back Its Ambitions for a Self-Driving Car
#180Earlier quoted context omitted.
https://ycharts.com/companies/AAPL/r_and_d_expense
On Titan? "billions of dollars on R&D in a new market segment"
Probably. After all, they're pushing 3bn per quarter and titan presumably lasted a few years. If it was 10% of R&D for 3 years it would be over 2bn according to that graph.