Apple self-driving test program grows to over 200 drivers

AppleInsider

Data from the California DMV shows Apple has 67 vehicles and 201 drivers registered for testing autonomous driving features on public roads.

Apple has over 200 test drivers

The California DMV requires companies that are testing autonomous driving features to register key details, like the number of drivers and vehicles in use. Apple's fleet hasn't changed much since 2021, but the number of drivers has slowly increased.

According to data obtained by macReports, Apple has increased its authorized drivers from 196 to 201 since January 2023. The number of vehicles remained steady at 67.

Other data included in the report comes from other manufacturers and their test bodies. There is also a list of driverless testers, which Apple is not a part of.

Apple registered one collision during the first quarter of 2023, but it was a minor one. The vehicle's tire and rim made contact with a curb, and authorities were not involved.

Apple has reported 16 total collisions in California since registering.

The data shows Apple's continued commitment to testing self-driving tools for cars. It is registered alongside other manufacturers like Mercedes, Waymo, Tesla, Nvidia, and Zoox.

Years of rumors, patents, and not-so-secret test facilities suggest an Apple Car could be on the way. However, recent rumors state that Apple has stopped prioritizing autonomous driving and will include a steering wheel.

Despite that, Apple will surely continue to test the technology until it becomes viable as a consumer product on the road. The Apple Car is currently expected sometime in 2026 or later.

Read on AppleInsider

h2p

It is encouraging that Something is happening. It’s been 4 years since I saw an Apple Lexus on the roads of a northwestern Chicago suburb. I assumed it was just Apple Maps but it probably had autonomous driving equipment, why not. 

The rumored steering wheel may simply be the law. Or the mindset of the horse and buggy folks, not ready to give up their old ways (like me).

tipoo

I'm still struggling to see how Apple racks up the data collection miles of Tesla without hundreds of thousands of vehicles on the road with the hardware in place and the software running in shadow mode. 200 vehicles is very small.  
 
Edit: Actually even smaller, that's just drivers, 67 vehicles 

badmonk

tipoo said:

I'm still struggling to see how Apple racks up the data collection miles of Tesla without hundreds of thousands of vehicles on the road with the hardware in place and the software running in shadow mode. 200 vehicles is very small. 

Undoubtedly because Apple will be using LIDAR and not cameras for autonomous driving which is becoming a glaring flaw of Tesla’s autonomous driving program.

tipoo

badmonk said:

tipoo said:

I'm still struggling to see how Apple racks up the data collection miles of Tesla without hundreds of thousands of vehicles on the road with the hardware in place and the software running in shadow mode. 200 vehicles is very small. 

Undoubtedly because Apple will be using LIDAR and not cameras for autonomous driving which is becoming a glaring flaw of Tesla’s autonomous driving program.

Because those using lidar are magically ahead? You still have to train a massive neural network on massive amounts of data regardless of the approach, there's no sensor you can add that gets to autonomy without that step. 

jfabula1

badmonk said:

tipoo said:

I'm still struggling to see how Apple racks up the data collection miles of Tesla without hundreds of thousands of vehicles on the road with the hardware in place and the software running in shadow mode. 200 vehicles is very small. 

Undoubtedly because Apple will be using LIDAR and not cameras for autonomous driving which is becoming a glaring flaw of Tesla’s autonomous driving program.

You must be a Tesla FSD beta driver to really experience how mind boggling it is to navigate in auto pilot. Except in severe weather conditions, it will
disable it for you, automatically….no Lidar? It just really works….whatever you read or watch in youtube is simply their opinion.

geospatial

There are two schools of thought on how a vehicle can maintain its position and see the fluid changes occurring during a drive. One is the concept of where the vehicle sensors are trying to see everything in realtime and making the split second decisions on the fly.  The other is to use a highly accurate driving map which gives the autonomous system a knowledge of the infrastructure. A sensor package then can be focused only on what is not already in the map and compare what is different to what is already known. Way fewer CPU cycles for the control unit.

It can be compared to how we drive to work each day without a map. We have all of the directions and turns embedded in our memories. That allows us to focus on the other vehicles and non motorized mobile objects who's movements can't be readily predicted and adjust accordingly. Way less overhead for our brains.

Just a guess but I would think that Apple is using the second method as they have a very valuable asset known as Apple Maps. The organization I am with is collecting asset and pavement data for DOTs across the country. We use that same raw data to make HAD Maps for several of the top AV test facilities in the country. If you take a close look at how the Apple Maps collection vehicles are set up, they are doing the exact same thing and the data they are creating could be rendered into digital twins for both highly accurate driving maps and augmented reality backgrounds. They are very similar outputs. 

geospatial

I forgot to point out, Apple Maps is the Apple Car's secret weapon. They have 3D data from almost everywhere. That gives them a step up on anybody else's AV platform that utilizes embedded maps. It is way more miles than anyone other than Waymo. They also control the iPhone technology and that gives them the mechanism for connecting their vehicle to everything else, including the infrastructure and other Apple Cars. It might even put them a few steps ahead of Tesla in autonomous vehicle driving reliability. Think of Apple Maps as the digital rail that the autonomous Apple cars travel on's 

It is foolish to think that Apple's plan is not well thought out. Taking their time and staying quiet is a great strength. Whatever they plan to do, it will be pretty sound and you are all going to want one. Just hope they come in a color other than white.

lolliver

The comments from @geospatial are some of the most insightful I have read in relation to the potential for an Apple Car. Of course we won't know for sure until/if Apple releases something. But this theory makes the most sense to me.