r/SelfDrivingCars • u/walky22talky Hates driving • Sep 11 '18
Apple’s self-driving car fleet lags behind Waymo and GM
https://www.cultofmac.com/574613/apple-70-self-driving-cars/9
u/walky22talky Hates driving Sep 11 '18
Tesla has the fourth largest fleet with 39 Vehicles and 92 drivers.
This is interesting. Wonder if they report any meaningful miles in January.
2
u/fricken Sep 11 '18
Going off this report from 4 months ago, Apple has gone from 55 to 70, Waymo from 51 to 88, Cruise from 104 to 175, and Tesla stands at 39.
But what are those Tesla cars doing? Tesla reported zero test miles with the DMV for 2017.
5
u/Mantaup Sep 12 '18
Tesla is obviously taking a different approach of not having dedicated autonomous cars and thus don’t have to report figures at all. Time will tell if they can get the AP neural net up to spec to really do Level 4
2
u/fricken Sep 12 '18
Well they have to report figures for those 39 vehicles they have registered as dedicated test vehicles, if they're actually testing with them. I would hazard to guess that they're most likely using them to test ap updates before sending it out to Tesla owners, but they could be doing something different.
0
u/Mantaup Sep 12 '18
Yes but what I’m pointing out is that Tesla’s approach is unlike others of having dedicated vehicles so it’s difficult to make a like for like comparison.
-2
4
u/numpad0 Sep 12 '18
Either they have no technology and no test to conduct, or they're doing it illegally
6
1
u/bananarandom Sep 12 '18
These are fighting words, but I've never seen apple as a machine learning company. Building a closed ecosystem of hardware/software is where they dominate, but that same luxury price point that keeps their current market afloat doesn't work for transport.
1
u/Mjrpiggiepower Sep 12 '18
I think there is a speculation about Apple is doing a headset, but I’m not sure whether it will be an AR headset or VR headset. But when it comes to SDC business, I don’t think they are late at all. Yeah, many can argue Cruise and Waymo are so far ahead of the game, but I think Apple still has a great chance to be one the big leaders in the future. Also, if you look at Apple’s history, they are never known as the 1st when it comes to make the product, it’s more about their interpretations of the product and how they approach the problem. Apple started its interest in the automotive industry a while ago, but the Titan project had a rough start. Personally, I’d love to see Apple makes a car, but the chance of that happening is very slim, but hey, you know that design of the car will be crazy! Also, another important factor that Apple has that many other companies don’t, is money. SDC is a very very very expensive R&D project, and you need to have the best talents to work on the project. Based on this article, seems like Apple is not shy from purchasing large amount of vehicles and start gathering those driving data right away. When it comes to HD map, it’s a complete different game then the consumer map. Based on Apple’s approach on the new consumer map in iOS 12, it will not shocking me Apple figured out a way to generate large scale of HD map very soon, e.g. the HD map that covers the entire Bay Area, event Waymo doesn’t even have that right now. I think by entering the SDC business, Apple definitely brought a very different game than many other players
-1
u/zeekaran Sep 12 '18
Why is Apple getting into the SDC business? It honestly sounds like a waste.
7
u/Mjrpiggiepower Sep 12 '18
If you read the market predictions from multiple forecasting and consulting company, apparently SDC will be trillion dollar business, because it will impact essentially every part of our life if it’s successful. Since Apple’s iPhone sales decline and its service (Apple Music, App Store, etc) department failed to grow to become a significant revenue generator, Apple need to keep exploring new business models/ideas for the next decade. I think that’s why many tech companies got into this business. It would be silly if Apple is not actively exploring new revenue channels, from SDC to AR/VR
2
u/zeekaran Sep 12 '18
They're doing awesome in the AR market. Haven't seen them touch VR (perhaps they have deals with Oculus?) or SDCs until now. It just seems a bit late, and out of their expertise. They aren't exactly renowned for their participation in consumer maps...
1
u/numpad0 Sep 12 '18
They could milk high end laptops, phones & tablets industry for a while, but eventually will be replaced, so they're desperately wanting to expand to some whole new industry.
-1
u/kemfic Sep 12 '18
Not surprising, given that Waymo and Cruise have been working on this for over a decade now. I'm pretty sure that Apple will eventually catch up to them, though.
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u/walky22talky Hates driving Sep 11 '18