Squad of Apple car staffers jump ship to self-driving startup Zoox
A group of 17 Apple engineers said to be working on Apple's automotive ambitions has reportedly left the company for self-driving company Zoox after Apple scaled back plans.
According to an account published on Wednesday by Bloomberg, the 17 engineers that left specialize in braking, suspension, and other mechanical automotive systems. The staffers originally came to Apple from traditional car makers, and weren't home-grown talent.
According to sources familiar with the matter, the engineers that departed found themselves less engaged with the process than previous. Apple has reportedly dialed back car plans, and is using the technology for employee shuttles, rather than having a consumer product ready in the short term.
Startup Zoox is based in Menlo Park, Calif, and has obtained $290 million in funding since July 2015. The company self-describes as a "robotics company pioneering autonomous mobility as-a-service."
Future ambitions for Zoox are to build a "fully automated, electric vehicle fleet and the supporting ecosystem required to bring the service to market at scale."
Zoox has also poached some of Apple's supply chain specialists over the last two years, according to Bloomberg.
Reports circulated earlier in August that Apple will partner with an established automaker on a self-driving shuttle testbed for use on the new Apple Park headquarters complex. Apple is reportedly responsible for suppling autonomous driving technology, while an as yet unnamed car maker provides a commercial vehicle fleet.
Dubbed PAIL, an acronym for Palo Alto to Infinite Loop, the pilot program will carry Apple employees from one Silicon Valley office to another. Exactly when the driverless shuttles will hit the road is unknown.
After longtime exec Bob Mansfield assumed control of Apple's "Project Titan" car initiative last year, the team was profoundly cut back to necessary personnel only as the project refocused on software and supporting solutions. Apple is now rebuilding the group, but with a renewed emphasis on specialists in autonomous systems, not car production -- emphasized by Wednesday's report of departures.
Apple has obtained a self-driving car permit from the California Department of Motor Vehicles and in in the process of testing of its autonomous driving technology using a small fleet of Lexus RX450h SUVs.
According to an account published on Wednesday by Bloomberg, the 17 engineers that left specialize in braking, suspension, and other mechanical automotive systems. The staffers originally came to Apple from traditional car makers, and weren't home-grown talent.
According to sources familiar with the matter, the engineers that departed found themselves less engaged with the process than previous. Apple has reportedly dialed back car plans, and is using the technology for employee shuttles, rather than having a consumer product ready in the short term.
Startup Zoox is based in Menlo Park, Calif, and has obtained $290 million in funding since July 2015. The company self-describes as a "robotics company pioneering autonomous mobility as-a-service."
Future ambitions for Zoox are to build a "fully automated, electric vehicle fleet and the supporting ecosystem required to bring the service to market at scale."
Zoox has also poached some of Apple's supply chain specialists over the last two years, according to Bloomberg.
Reports circulated earlier in August that Apple will partner with an established automaker on a self-driving shuttle testbed for use on the new Apple Park headquarters complex. Apple is reportedly responsible for suppling autonomous driving technology, while an as yet unnamed car maker provides a commercial vehicle fleet.
Dubbed PAIL, an acronym for Palo Alto to Infinite Loop, the pilot program will carry Apple employees from one Silicon Valley office to another. Exactly when the driverless shuttles will hit the road is unknown.
After longtime exec Bob Mansfield assumed control of Apple's "Project Titan" car initiative last year, the team was profoundly cut back to necessary personnel only as the project refocused on software and supporting solutions. Apple is now rebuilding the group, but with a renewed emphasis on specialists in autonomous systems, not car production -- emphasized by Wednesday's report of departures.
Apple has obtained a self-driving car permit from the California Department of Motor Vehicles and in in the process of testing of its autonomous driving technology using a small fleet of Lexus RX450h SUVs.
Comments
Apple likely had hired many hundreds related to this project, many of those are still there; so what does that tell you?
Was shot towards the roof and beyond;
The infant's trajectory passed him over the rectory,
And into a lily-choked pond." -- Edward St. John Gorey
From what I hear, Intel-MobilEye essentially has the entire car industry under it's belt as partners that contribute and share some data. (Volkswagen, BMW, Daimler, Ford, GM, Chrysler, Volvo, Toyota, Honda etc...) Intel-MobilEye has level 1,2 and 3 essentially covered and are working on the more difficult levels 4 and 5 and using crowd sourced HD Maps from all their partner's cars to help determine the drivable paths for un-marked roads.
I understand that the Google-Baidu 3D maps technology is not scalable as it is impossibly expensive to maintain globally and uses too much bandwidth to be practical.
( See 1st video between 8:00 and 20:00 from MobilEye 2016 CES, second video is 2017 CES.)
The core autonomous technology race will likely be between Intel-MobilEye and Apple Inc. One main difference is that I think Apple will use low orbit satellites for dynamic HD maps to guide it's cars or planes etc.. ( Coherent Navigation anyone? http://appleinsider.com/articles/15/05/18/how-coherent-navigation-can-help-apple-with-location-technology-and-talent ) That would likely be much better than crowd source HD maps in terms of reliability, feasibility, consistency and security. Not to mention that Apple's system will likely cover the vehicle end to end with options to override certain methods. Time will tell.
So if Zoox builds cars based on Apple parts and core technologies, it would be awesome.
I wonder who funded Zoox the $290 million?
And a bit more background about them.
https://spectrum.ieee.org/cars-that-think/transportation/self-driving/secretive-robotaxi-startup-zoox-prepares-for-realworld-testing
I am convinced that Tesla's autonomous driving system is in trouble at this time, as indicated by their track record and the apparent lack of adult supervision. Tesla will probably have to go back to Intel-MobilEye because I think that their simplistic system was not well thought out in terms of going all the way to level 4 and 5 safely and reliably.
I have driven all the Tesla cars except the model 3. I think they have great electrification and automotive engineers but ditching MobilEye may have been a big mistake. I am even on the list for a Model 3 but I am not sure I will get it until I test drive a dual motor version. I don't even trust Tesla's level 1, 2 and 3 autonomous features after the fatal accidents that they have had.
http://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-autopilot-engineers-clashed-over-self-driving-car-plans-wsj-2017-8
https://www.technologyreview.com/the-download/608739/some-tesla-engineers-think-autopilot-isnt-safe/
https://www.inc.com/minda-zetlin/tesla-employees-say-theytried-to-warn-elon-musk-about-autopilot-dangers.html
https://jalopnik.com/volvo-engineer-calls-out-tesla-for-dangerous-wannabe-au-1773519459
Time will tell.
Does that mistrust extend to all vehicles with autonomous features like lane-assist, automatic braking, smart cruise control, self-piloting traffic jam assistance and such?
Your posts feel a lot like someone writing with an ulterior motive. Since you confidently predict Tesla's coming demise and even distrust of their current control systems why on earth do you supposedly have one on order?? That makes no sense if your posts are sincere. So I'd ask you instead "Hate Tesla much?" because that's what it sounds like.
Well, I honestly love Tesla cars because they are fast, quiet, emission free electric cars and that's why I would buy one. In other words, I love driving them myself. I would not buy one for the autonomous driving features. I also love the company for what they do, not to mention that I have made money on their stock. The folks a the local Tesla store know me since I have been there several times with family and friends to test drive the cars.
However, I can’t ignore the facts when comparing them from an autonomous system point of view. One particular accident that really got under my skin is the one described in the links below... I believe the car crashed into a huge truck that was across in the middle of the road because it could not see the truck partially because of the color of the truck. If they had LiDAR for example, it would have picked up the truck. They did not think of that and I think they should have.
What is also irritating is the fact that Elon is insisting that those Tesla models have all the hardware that they need for level 4 and 5 autonomous driving in the future and that is simply not true. This is why many engineers have left Tesla.
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/06/20/tesla_death_crash_accident_report_ntsb/
https://electrek.co/2016/07/01/truck-driver-fatal-tesla-autopilot-crash-watching-movie/