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Apple Scales Back Its Ambitions for a Self-Driving Car

nytimes.com

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Re: Apple Scales Back Its Ambitions for a Self-Driving Car

#211

Post by gambiting »

hallmark wrote: post #136
colechristensen wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like they were biting off way more than they could chew. If Apple partnered with an existing car company to apply their design principles on top of an existing car platform (e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_Mini_platform ) they could see a lot of success if they weren't too ambitious. They wouldn't win if they tried to reinvent the wheel because there would be far too big of a chance of either taking 10…

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.

Wait, what was wrong with the ROKR? I had the E1 and it was a fantastic phone for its time.

Re: Apple Scales Back Its Ambitions for a Self-Driving Car

#212

Post by emptyfile »

1_2__4 wrote: post #113

Can the "mass production self driving cars are just a couple of years away" meme finally die yet? Are we ready to admit that maybe this is a harder thing to invent than we've been trying to make ourselves believe?

Check any Tesla thread on HN for an answer to your question...

Re: Apple Scales Back Its Ambitions for a Self-Driving Car

#213

Post by robertlagrant »

freehunter wrote: post #115
mozumder wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If government built a road in front of your house, they can build a streetcar line in front of your house as well. This is the cost of living in luxury with your own 19 acres. And if you have your own farmland, you are richer than half the country.

Today I learned that poor rural farmers are living lives of luxury. Such a luxurious life in areas with no cell service, no high speed internet, and a several-hour streetcar ride into town to get groceries. So glad to know that food stamps, welfare, and homemade methamphetamines qualify someone for luxury living. Jesus fucking Christ this thread is cancer.

It's really not. Calm down and don't pick up on one minor point and reply with a giant response. Obviously no one else thinks that cars are unnecessary.

Re: Apple Scales Back Its Ambitions for a Self-Driving Car

#214

Post by robertlagrant »

didip wrote: post #63
jamestimmins wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a strong case to be made that this isn't a desirable outcome in a lot of areas. Trains and buses are much more efficient at moving people than individual cars, even if they're self-driving. I'm also extremely excited about autonomous cars, but neither desire nor think they will replace mass transit. edit: As a few people have mentioned, my suggestion that "trains are buses are much more efficient" is dubious.…

What if trains and buses can be made autonomous? From software perspective, there isn't much difference between form of vehicles.

Well there is, because you get autonomous trains today due to the massively reduced problem space.

Re: Apple Scales Back Its Ambitions for a Self-Driving Car

#215

Post by robertlagrant »

slackoverflower wrote: post #9
kartD wrote: post #3

"But people within the industrial design team including Jonathan Ive, Apple’s chief designer, believed that a fully driverless car would allow the company to reimagine the automobile experience, according to the five people." Ah Jony Ive, first he ruined iOS 7 and now this constant need to tinker with things that work fine. I love the hardware design but please leave the software and HID bit alone... of course YMMV P…

Nope. Flat design for iOS was Apple's best move. iOS 7 was what made iOS amazing. I have no clue what you're talking about. Full credit to Jony Ive, some of the UI design I've seen.

It was nice that they followed the Microsoft flat design stuff. Weird that it was all psychedelic, though. That was hilarious.

Re: Apple Scales Back Its Ambitions for a Self-Driving Car

#216

Post by pertymcpert »

colordrops wrote: post #208
dmix wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds a lot like a company that wanted to build a new house of the future but found out they prefer redesigning the light fixtures, faucets, etc rather than the house itself. Aka the general UX details rather that would be ideal in a modern house rather than the house itself. Apple probably would never have developed the smartphone first but they did a hell of a good job at getting all the details right with the iPh…

Isn't that just a form of bike-shedding?

How is that bike shedding?

Re: Apple Scales Back Its Ambitions for a Self-Driving Car

#217

Post by sah2ed »

azinman2 wrote: post #85
likelynew wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How will it solve anything?

Theoretically you could find someone far away who will drive cheaply. Lot of trust in that individual when they too don’t get killed if the car crashes. Also hope you never have packet loss!!! There’s also that pesky speed of light restrictions on low latency, etc.

That's definitely a killer app for VR - remote emergency assist using VR.

A VR service for Truckers sold by Uber/Lyft could be a thing for the millions of truck drivers to be out of work in the not too distant future.

Re: Apple Scales Back Its Ambitions for a Self-Driving Car

#218

Post by bluthru »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #198
erikpukinskis wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is no such thing as a UI layer. UI and function are inextricably linked. For example, see iPhone's voicemail. Or the touch screen. Or the app store. None of those things could have been executed by UI teams at any other device manufacturer at the time.

The app store already existed for Blackberries at the time. I'm not sure what you're talking about with voicemail.

The iPhone was the first phone with visual voicemail.

Re: Apple Scales Back Its Ambitions for a Self-Driving Car

#219

Post by wellboy »

erikpukinskis wrote: post #52
hkmurakami wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They wouldn't get the tech they're looking for. Manufacturing scale is not something they need until after they have the self driving tech (and also, I'd just partner with a Japanese or German automaker tbh. Toyota under the current CEO has made moves that hint that it would be open to a joint venture). The main differentiator of current big auto is the engine and drivetrain engineering, which you can circumvent when…

You're also buying huge liabilities: - constrictive agreements with dealers - rapidly deprecating manufacturing assets - a workforce with sunk costs in last generation skills - a warranty burden on old vehicles - pensions and other union agreements - a beloved brand that the public may not be happy seeing chewed up and regurgitated as iTaxi Supplier 4A If you believe in an autonomous and electric near future, some of…

I don't think these points are of any relevance. Once you have stage IV autonomy, you can partner with any car manufacturer you want, you have all the leverage.

However, knowledge in cars definitely helps building the technology, since there are so many little variables that you otherwise would oversee.

Re: Apple Scales Back Its Ambitions for a Self-Driving Car

#220

Post by aiiane »

Animats wrote: post #168
tambourine_man wrote: post #36

“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…

A team within Titan investigated the possibility of using spherical wheels — round like a globe — instead of the traditional, round ones, because spherical wheels could allow the car better lateral movement.” Somebody liked the Audi RSQ from Minority Report.[1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audi_RSQ

As the page you linked indicates, the Audi RSQ was from I, Robot. The car in Minority Report was a Lexus 2054 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexus_2054). :)
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