If Apple is focussing on software for their first car, that could be because they have decided to purchase (via a friendly or hostile takeover) an existing car company outright. Most of the big car companies have a total market cap of $40-$80 billion. Apple could even buy out Toyota for $180 billion. But I would rather see Apple shell out a measly $1 billion for McLaren Automotive (though I suspect they have their eyes on BMW.) McLaren's cars are the "Apple of automobiles", in my opinion. Right now the cheapest McLaren, the MP4-12C, is about $200K, and Apple would have to work a little on reducing that price. In 23 years of Top Gear, only nine other cars have gone higher on their charts than the entry-level MP4-12C, one of which, the very top one, is another McLaren, the 675LT.
As much as I'd like for Apple to purchase McLaren, I'd prefer Apple to deal with a company that makes more mass-produced cars. Those cars are still too expensive for the average U.S. citizen. I'd like Apple to aim for $50,000 vehicles, at least, if they're going to be working on self-driving vehicles. I suppose the only reason I'd want Apple to buy McLaren is to field some racing cars for IMSA but of course, Apple can just be a large sponsor of McLaren if that's the case. I realize Apple would get some talented engineers and designers from McLaren but I'd still want them working on projects that will eventually filter down to the masses.
Self driving cars cannot co-exist with idiot driven cars.
I think you're right about that. I honestly couldn't imagine fleets of self-driving cars in Manhattan during peak travel periods. There's just so much traffic, pedestrian, and auto, to contend with. Maybe I don't know enough about AI but I would think such heavy and unpredictable traffic would bring any AI to a dead standstill. Do AI vehicles take orders from traffic cops and construction people waving signs to re-direct them? How does avoidance software work with bike messengers cutting in front and alongside an AI vehicle? I'm sure AI vehicles would be good in certain situations where they'd have their own lanes but human and AI vehicles crowded together just seems a bit of a stretch to me.
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