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Apple Lays Off 200 Employees from Autonomous Car Unit

cnbc.com

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Re: Apple Lays Off 200 Employees from Autonomous Car Unit

#181

Post by pegasus »

itslennysfault wrote: post #109
baxtr wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“can’t make” - that is a very general statement. I am quite happy with my MBP

Post 2015? Maybe I'm just spoiled, but I can't type on them to save my life. I had a 2006 MBP and every 3 - 5 years since, but after a few months with the latest line I jumped to a Dell XPS running Ubuntu, and I never looked back. Had to find new tools and learn new shortcuts, but after a month or so I adjusted, and I never have to endure that hellish keyboard again. edit: punctuation exists.

You're not spoiled. Just stuck in your old ways. Some of us adapted without even noticing (hard to believe, right?)

Re: Apple Lays Off 200 Employees from Autonomous Car Unit

#182

Post by adrianN »

chx wrote: post #93

Maybe Apple doesn't want to pursue a dream which, as far as we know, can only have a limited outcome? They don't really like such compromises in products. Check this: https://medium.com/s/story/self-driving-cars-will-always-be-... > Waymo’s CEO, John Krafcik, has admitted that a self-driving car that can drive in any condition, on any road, without ever needing a human to take control—usually called a “level five” au…

Sensors on humans don't work well in snow or rain either. That doesn't stop us from driving.

Re: Apple Lays Off 200 Employees from Autonomous Car Unit

#183

Post by Polyisoprene »

Tepix wrote: post #94
usaphp wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They stopped making routers and monitors not because they are non “core” products, they stopped making them because there is not much money in it. You buy routers ones every 10 years probably, and margin is limited, but supporting them throughout this period is quite expensive. As for monitors, there is so many competitors right now, that it’s hard to make it worth building your own monitor, Especially if you want to…

If Apple truly cares about the user experience they would have kept the wireless routers in their portfolio. A great opportunity missed to have a product that is more user friendly than the competition. I'd argue the wholesome user experience will prove be more important for Apple in the long run than having a big profit margin on every product.

Sure, they could have been the ones launching the Unifi line of routers and switches, instead of Ubiquiti, but that would mean caring about and supporting non-mac equipment and computers in the offices.

Re: Apple Lays Off 200 Employees from Autonomous Car Unit

#184

Post by saagarjha »

kamaal wrote: post #142
zaphirplane wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple is a very profitable company, with massive cash flow. I would love to know why their laptop lagges in hardware. Seriously can’t they hire 200 people to work on it or on iOS and really crush the competition

>>Seriously can’t they The word 'they' suggests some kind of hive mind at work. In reality it's more like 1 - 2 people at the top making decisions. If those people drag their heels for ever, or just don't care it won't happen. The real question is why should they care. I mean even if you give them stocks, by the time they vest, they would have got their money. After that you can go work for whomever you like. So why…

> The real question is why should they care. I mean even if you give them stocks, by the time they vest, they would have got their money. After that you can go work for whomever you like.

Apple’s executive team is not known for ditching the company the moment their stocks vest.

Re: Apple Lays Off 200 Employees from Autonomous Car Unit

#185

Post by mrweasel »

millstone wrote: post #177
ulfw wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have no idea why you're getting downvoted. If a company decides not to produce wireless routers (which were class leading) or monitors etc anymore, all because they're non "core" to a computer/mobile hardware company then I don't see how building automotive AI is core to a computer/mobile hardware computer company that has zero core competency in either car manufacturing or AI.

It's really not that confusing. Routers, discrete monitors, or cars are not core to Apple's existing businesses. But of the three, only cars represent a market large enough to be worth pursuing. So that's where Apple invests and attempts to develop competency.

It's hard to see them making any money on cars anytime soon. Autonomous cars are at least 20 years away. Profit margins on cars isn't even close to that of an iPhone. Also it would be entering an entirely new field of business that not only require the R&D to make the car, they also need the infrastructure to handle sales and repairs.

Apple does have the money to pull it off, if they want to. I would just question if they'd profit from the project.

Re: Apple Lays Off 200 Employees from Autonomous Car Unit

#186

Post by trhway »

haven't seen those cars in Sunnyvale for something like a couple months. The cars are really heavy on sensors, so Apple shouldn't have issues with detailed 3d scene acquisition, it is probably understanding of the scene is where they struggle - not surprising giving that they are hardware company and for example behind the likes of Google in the AI dept.

Re: Apple Lays Off 200 Employees from Autonomous Car Unit

#187

Post by saagarjha »

digitalzombie wrote: post #106
tiew9Vii wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From what I read Apple are taking a different approach? Google/Amazon are harvesting massive amounts of data and training against it and Apple are taking a privacy first approach saying you shouldn’t have to harvest lots of data for intelligent AI. Currently the harvesting data for models look to be working better for Google / Amazon with current technology. The question is how will Apple progress long term and given…

You can harvest data and anonymize it. My friend at Google supposedly is doing this via research at Google. I'm not going to say Google care about our privacy as much as Apple but they are researching this probably for medical and for when opportunity arises. To be perfectly honest I think Apple's stance on privacy is all marketing, there are cases where they refused to unlock phones for the FBI but there are other c…

> You can harvest data and anonymize it.

Presumably the anonymization needs to happen prior to collection for it to be effective?

Re: Apple Lays Off 200 Employees from Autonomous Car Unit

#189

Post by jrockway »

pentae wrote: post #6

When you can't make a laptop with reliable screens or keyboards, or an iMac lineup that has CPU's 2 generations behind.. Maybe it's time to shut down the stupid vanity projects and focus on your core business instead?

I am pretty sure laptops (and other computers) are a vanity project for Apple at this point. They need some way for people to be able to write iPhone apps, and the history of Apple kind of makes it difficult to say "buy the latest version of Windows and use our Visual Studio plugin", so they make Macs. But I'm not sure it's a good business decision. The number of people that use a computer outside of work seems to be dwindling. Should probably focus everything on making sure they are using an iPhone, not something else.

Re: Apple Lays Off 200 Employees from Autonomous Car Unit

#190

Post by swish_bob »

rightbyte wrote: post #118
nerdbeere wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

…and 9 women are known to bear a child in one month

Adding people to a department actually helps if it's understaffed. But I guess the keyboard design is a managment problem not a engineer problem. "The mythical man month" should not be interpreted dogmatically.

> Adding people to a department actually helps if it's understaffed

Eventually. At first it makes matters worth. And that's assuming your predicate is correct, that the department is understaffed.

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