There will not be cars without steering wheels for a very long time. The technology is not close to making this a reasonable option.
Incorrect.
There is already precedence.
The Waymo Firefly "bubble car" employed a joystick like a fighter aircraft. This autonomous vehicle test fleet was retired a couple of years ago but there was never a traditional steering wheel.
Note that people have been driving automobiles with gamepad stick controls in videogames for decades. And that doesn't even begin to touch the aircraft industry.
Joysticks were good enough for Chuck Yeager. They're good enough for Waymo. They've been good enough for 30+ years of videogamers (both console and arcade).
I would not want this car, personally. I see it as a huge liability.
Autonomous vehicle testing has been going on for many years on public roads, not just in the USA but in other countries.
Here in Silicon Valley there are probably 30+ companies with autonomous test vehicles on the roads of western Santa Clara County (Mountain View, Palo Alto, Sunnyvale, Cupertino, Los Altos). Even the big traditional auto manufacturers have R&D teams in this area.
The autonomous vehicles even in the current test status are safer than teenaged drivers. Those kids are far more scary.
If it’s using some alternate controller, such as a joystick, fine; but if it’s just a posh robotoxi, as seems to be the implication, I fail to see this competing with any established BEVs. Such a design is a corporate or industrial capital investment, not a consumer product.
Technical and legal challenges aside, a car without a steering wheel will be a bit boring for many people like me who enjoy driving. While I am all for autonomous driving, and I think it's really cool, I wouldn't want to use it all the time. Sometimes you just want to enjoy the pleasure of driving. It gives you a sense of excitement and adrenaline rush. Though I am sure there will be enough items in the Apple car to keep me entertained and busy, but I would still like to have the option to drive it sometimes.
It wasn't long ago that people said the same about 4 speeds (now 6 speeds). Actually i still prefer driving them -- except, unless I spend a fortune on a specialty car or antique, I can't.
Ha Ha Ha ... “don’t expect that Apple car to have a steering wheel”. LOL.. I guess it won’t need any human beings in it either. Ha Ha. Anybody remember the movie Total Recall ? I think they had some robot taxi called a “Johnny cab” with a stupid talking robot driver.. so THIS is the future LOL.. as somebody who enjoys driving I will say NO THANKS. (I also enjoy cars that have real exhaust notes\sounds, But this is going away with the Apple car and other new vehicles, sadly.) Cars will just be bland computerized vehicles connected to internet and who knows what the privacy concerns will bring and location and data sharing. Absolutely scary.
Of course the $50,000 Apple Car won't come with a steering wheel. To use it, you will have to buy the separate Apple Steering Wheel for $27,999. Yes, that is expensive, but wait until you see how the solid aluminum wheel was forged out of a giant disk of solid metal, before the rare white walnut inlays were set in place!
The mythical Apple Car will be more like $150,000 if it shows up. you want wheels with that car - It's only a $5,000 per wheel option.
Of course the $50,000 Apple Car won't come with a steering wheel. To use it, you will have to buy the separate Apple Steering Wheel for $27,999. Yes, that is expensive, but wait until you see how the solid aluminum wheel was forged out of a giant disk of solid metal, before the rare white walnut inlays were set in place!
The mythical Apple Car will be more like $150,000 if it shows up. you want wheels with that car - It's only a $5,000 per wheel option.
Yeh, I suspect you are right: they'll end up going head to head against Musk -- which will be an interesting match up.
But, in the end, Honda, Toyota, Hyundai -- even GM & Ford -- as well as a few (likely Chinese) newbies will be pumping out very nice affordable EVs but without all the high tech like self driving options.
The last thing I would want to do right now is drop tens of thousands of dollars into a new car that'll soon be (to paraphrase Musk) As Obsolete as a horse
Of course the $50,000 Apple Car won't come with a steering wheel. To use it, you will have to buy the separate Apple Steering Wheel for $27,999. Yes, that is expensive, but wait until you see how the solid aluminum wheel was forged out of a giant disk of solid metal, before the rare white walnut inlays were set in place!
The mythical Apple Car will be more like $150,000 if it shows up. you want wheels with that car - It's only a $5,000 per wheel option.
Yeh, I suspect you are right: they'll end up going head to head against Musk -- which will be an interesting match up.
But, in the end, Honda, Toyota, Hyundai -- even GM & Ford -- as well as a few (likely Chinese) newbies will be pumping out very nice affordable EVs but without all the high tech like self driving options.
The last thing I would want to do right now is drop tens of thousands of dollars into a new car that'll soon be (to paraphrase Musk) As Obsolete as a horse
"Maybe you’ve seen this viral TikTok video: A young man lies in the back seat of his Tesla, covered in blankets, as the car cruises down the highway. The driver’s seat is empty.
If you haven’t, perhaps you’ve seen another like it. Videos of Tesla owners gleefully abusing the Autopilot system, a set of driver-assist technologies including adaptive cruise control, have become something of a genre across social media over the last few years, even as drivers have been killed while trusting it to operate their vehicles for them.
Officially, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration discourages such behavior, running a public awareness campaign last fall with the hashtag #YourCarNeedsYou. But its messaging competes with marketing of Tesla itself, which recently said it will begin selling a software package for “Full Self Driving” — a term it has used since 2016 despite objections from critics and the caveats in the company’s own fine print — on a subscription basis starting this quarter.
That NHTSA has so far declined to confront Tesla directly on the issue is firmly in character for an agency that took a hands-off approach to a wide range of matters under the Trump administration."
Elon will certainly see more scrutiny from the Biden administration, just as the Chinese Government has had to scrutinize Tesla;
"
Tesla to recall 36,126 Model S and X vehicles in China over touch-screen failures
The latest recall represents Tesla’s third in China since the fourth quarter of 2020.
Without a steering wheel it's impossible to be a major competitor to Tesla or anyone else.
All fully autonomous cars will have to 'communicate' with their environment. For that to happen, road infrastructure will have to be massively updated. That is actually happening now in some areas but it will be a very long time until everywhere you might want to go is ready for a car without a manual steering option.
And this is without touching on the legislative angle.
There is a place right now for vehicles without any kind of manual steering option but that place is in closed circuit environments (and in those environments the goal is getting something done repetitively - not somewhere you'd see a regular free market car because functionality is the key).
Of course the $50,000 Apple Car won't come with a steering wheel. To use it, you will have to buy the separate Apple Steering Wheel for $27,999. Yes, that is expensive, but wait until you see how the solid aluminum wheel was forged out of a giant disk of solid metal, before the rare white walnut inlays were set in place!
The mythical Apple Car will be more like $150,000 if it shows up. you want wheels with that car - It's only a $5,000 per wheel option.
Yeh, I suspect you are right: they'll end up going head to head against Musk -- which will be an interesting match up.
But, in the end, Honda, Toyota, Hyundai -- even GM & Ford -- as well as a few (likely Chinese) newbies will be pumping out very nice affordable EVs but without all the high tech like self driving options.
The last thing I would want to do right now is drop tens of thousands of dollars into a new car that'll soon be (to paraphrase Musk) As Obsolete as a horse
"Maybe you’ve seen this viral TikTok video: A young man lies in the back seat of his Tesla, covered in blankets, as the car cruises down the highway. The driver’s seat is empty.
If you haven’t, perhaps you’ve seen another like it. Videos of Tesla owners gleefully abusing the Autopilot system, a set of driver-assist technologies including adaptive cruise control, have become something of a genre across social media over the last few years, even as drivers have been killed while trusting it to operate their vehicles for them.
Officially, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration discourages such behavior, running a public awareness campaign last fall with the hashtag #YourCarNeedsYou. But its messaging competes with marketing of Tesla itself, which recently said it will begin selling a software package for “Full Self Driving” — a term it has used since 2016 despite objections from critics and the caveats in the company’s own fine print — on a subscription basis starting this quarter.
That NHTSA has so far declined to confront Tesla directly on the issue is firmly in character for an agency that took a hands-off approach to a wide range of matters under the Trump administration."
Elon will certainly see more scrutiny from the Biden administration, just as the Chinese Government has had to scrutinize Tesla;
"
Tesla to recall 36,126 Model S and X vehicles in China over touch-screen failures
The latest recall represents Tesla’s third in China since the fourth quarter of 2020.
Without a steering wheel it's impossible to be a major competitor to Tesla or anyone else.
All fully autonomous cars will have to 'communicate' with their environment. For that to happen, road infrastructure will have to be massively updated. That is actually happening now in some areas but it will be a very long time until everywhere you might want to go is ready for a car without a manual steering option.
And this is without touching on the legislative angle.
There is a place right now for vehicles without any kind of manual steering option but that place is in closed circuit environments (and in those environments the goal is getting something done repetitively - not somewhere you'd see a regular free market car because functionality is the key).
I am thinking that, even with fully mature self driving that there will still be a place for manual controls --- say you want to park the car in your back yard -- how would you tell an automated module to do that? "Drive up the front yard, around the garden, through the side yard and park under the tree"....
Or, maybe that is why Musk is working on Neuralink?
Of course the $50,000 Apple Car won't come with a steering wheel. To use it, you will have to buy the separate Apple Steering Wheel for $27,999. Yes, that is expensive, but wait until you see how the solid aluminum wheel was forged out of a giant disk of solid metal, before the rare white walnut inlays were set in place!
The mythical Apple Car will be more like $150,000 if it shows up. you want wheels with that car - It's only a $5,000 per wheel option.
How about a nice Apple TV remote where the steering wheel used to be. You’ll need to swipe left or right to turn. Or maybe a nice joystick like this guy is using.
Of course the $50,000 Apple Car won't come with a steering wheel. To use it, you will have to buy the separate Apple Steering Wheel for $27,999. Yes, that is expensive, but wait until you see how the solid aluminum wheel was forged out of a giant disk of solid metal, before the rare white walnut inlays were set in place!
The mythical Apple Car will be more like $150,000 if it shows up. you want wheels with that car - It's only a $5,000 per wheel option.
Yeh, I suspect you are right: they'll end up going head to head against Musk -- which will be an interesting match up.
But, in the end, Honda, Toyota, Hyundai -- even GM & Ford -- as well as a few (likely Chinese) newbies will be pumping out very nice affordable EVs but without all the high tech like self driving options.
The last thing I would want to do right now is drop tens of thousands of dollars into a new car that'll soon be (to paraphrase Musk) As Obsolete as a horse
"Maybe you’ve seen this viral TikTok video: A young man lies in the back seat of his Tesla, covered in blankets, as the car cruises down the highway. The driver’s seat is empty.
If you haven’t, perhaps you’ve seen another like it. Videos of Tesla owners gleefully abusing the Autopilot system, a set of driver-assist technologies including adaptive cruise control, have become something of a genre across social media over the last few years, even as drivers have been killed while trusting it to operate their vehicles for them.
Officially, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration discourages such behavior, running a public awareness campaign last fall with the hashtag #YourCarNeedsYou. But its messaging competes with marketing of Tesla itself, which recently said it will begin selling a software package for “Full Self Driving” — a term it has used since 2016 despite objections from critics and the caveats in the company’s own fine print — on a subscription basis starting this quarter.
That NHTSA has so far declined to confront Tesla directly on the issue is firmly in character for an agency that took a hands-off approach to a wide range of matters under the Trump administration."
Elon will certainly see more scrutiny from the Biden administration, just as the Chinese Government has had to scrutinize Tesla;
"
Tesla to recall 36,126 Model S and X vehicles in China over touch-screen failures
The latest recall represents Tesla’s third in China since the fourth quarter of 2020.
Lol. Is this a joke post? Trying to make Tesla’s seem dangerous when they’re by far the safest cars.. cheering on the onerous China CCP and expected biden clampdowns on innovation with further regulation. Embarrassing.
Comments
There is already precedence.
The Waymo Firefly "bubble car" employed a joystick like a fighter aircraft. This autonomous vehicle test fleet was retired a couple of years ago but there was never a traditional steering wheel.
Note that people have been driving automobiles with gamepad stick controls in videogames for decades. And that doesn't even begin to touch the aircraft industry.
Joysticks were good enough for Chuck Yeager. They're good enough for Waymo. They've been good enough for 30+ years of videogamers (both console and arcade).
They'll be good enough for the general public.
Here in Silicon Valley there are probably 30+ companies with autonomous test vehicles on the roads of western Santa Clara County (Mountain View, Palo Alto, Sunnyvale, Cupertino, Los Altos). Even the big traditional auto manufacturers have R&D teams in this area.
The autonomous vehicles even in the current test status are safer than teenaged drivers. Those kids are far more scary.
It wasn't long ago that people said the same about 4 speeds (now 6 speeds). Actually i still prefer driving them -- except, unless I spend a fortune on a specialty car or antique, I can't.
Keep up on current events;
https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2021-02-04/news-analysis-federal-auto-safety-agency-left-a-massive-pile-for-biden
"Maybe you’ve seen this viral TikTok video: A young man lies in the back seat of his Tesla, covered in blankets, as the car cruises down the highway. The driver’s seat is empty.
If you haven’t, perhaps you’ve seen another like it. Videos of Tesla owners gleefully abusing the Autopilot system, a set of driver-assist technologies including adaptive cruise control, have become something of a genre across social media over the last few years, even as drivers have been killed while trusting it to operate their vehicles for them.
Officially, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration discourages such behavior, running a public awareness campaign last fall with the hashtag #YourCarNeedsYou. But its messaging competes with marketing of Tesla itself, which recently said it will begin selling a software package for “Full Self Driving” — a term it has used since 2016 despite objections from critics and the caveats in the company’s own fine print — on a subscription basis starting this quarter.
That NHTSA has so far declined to confront Tesla directly on the issue is firmly in character for an agency that took a hands-off approach to a wide range of matters under the Trump administration."
Elon will certainly see more scrutiny from the Biden administration, just as the Chinese Government has had to scrutinize Tesla;
"
Tesla to recall 36,126 Model S and X vehicles in China over touch-screen failures
- The latest recall represents Tesla’s third in China since the fourth quarter of 2020.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-tesla-recall/tesla-to-recall-135000-u-s-vehicles-under-pressure-from-auto-safety-regulators-idUSKBN2A21FCAll fully autonomous cars will have to 'communicate' with their environment. For that to happen, road infrastructure will have to be massively updated. That is actually happening now in some areas but it will be a very long time until everywhere you might want to go is ready for a car without a manual steering option.
And this is without touching on the legislative angle.
There is a place right now for vehicles without any kind of manual steering option but that place is in closed circuit environments (and in those environments the goal is getting something done repetitively - not somewhere you'd see a regular free market car because functionality is the key).
OMG !!!!
... they had a recall! A whole recall! That never happened to GM! (They never recalled the Corvair not did Ford recall the Pinto).