Apple Car project troubled by management demos and uncertain schedule
The Apple Car project has suffered repeated setbacks throughout its development caused in part by a need to constantly prove its worthiness to management, a report claims, with Apple spending a lot of the last eight years struggling to keep the effort on a positive trajectory.
Apple has been working on some form of automotive project for a long time, with it rumored to range from car design to the creation of self-driving systems. In a profile of the project as a whole, it seems that the attempt to impact the automotive industry is on rocky ground.
In one key example in the article by The Information, Apple used a number of prototype self-driving vehicles to travel 40 miles through Montana in August 2021. The project, which was filmed via drones, was for the creation of a polished video for upper Apple management, including CEO Tim Cook, to demonstrate it was still progressing nicely.
While the video demonstration was a success, including demonstrating that vehicles could drive without needing high-definition three-dimensional road maps over the journey, it was short-lived. The same vehicles traveling in Silicon Valley still suffered from issues, including lane issues and hitting curbs.
The article, based on interviews with 20 people who worked on the project, goes on to say it was an example of the problems caused by "constantly-shifting goals" and the "revolving door of leaders," in turn caused by an uncertainty of the project itself.
The employee changes have been numerous, including March rumors that it was dissolved. High-profile exits include Director of Machine Learning Ian Goodfellow and automotive engineer C.J. Moore in May,
The example also demonstrated how engineers "waste precious time choreographing demonstrations" along known routes, proving the technology works in specific places but practically nowhere else.
"If you spend enough money, you can get almost any fixed route to work," explained former Uber self-driving vehicle engineer Arun Venkatadri. "But what isn't shown is whether you can build your self-driving software in a scalable fashion and whether you can operate in a reasonably broad area."
There has also been supposed skepticism from upper management about the project as a whole, which has reportedly cost more than a billion dollars per year in research and development. Sources say Cook's tendency to distance himself from product designs and a resistance to visiting the Project Titan offices is supposedly hurting the program, and that Cook's unwillingness to commit to mass production has frustrated project senior executives.
Software chief Craig Federighi has also reportedly been skeptical about the project. Meanwhile, amid ridicule over changes in leadership, managers within Apple have allegedly warned employees to keep away from the project entirely.
Read on AppleInsider
Apple has been working on some form of automotive project for a long time, with it rumored to range from car design to the creation of self-driving systems. In a profile of the project as a whole, it seems that the attempt to impact the automotive industry is on rocky ground.
In one key example in the article by The Information, Apple used a number of prototype self-driving vehicles to travel 40 miles through Montana in August 2021. The project, which was filmed via drones, was for the creation of a polished video for upper Apple management, including CEO Tim Cook, to demonstrate it was still progressing nicely.
While the video demonstration was a success, including demonstrating that vehicles could drive without needing high-definition three-dimensional road maps over the journey, it was short-lived. The same vehicles traveling in Silicon Valley still suffered from issues, including lane issues and hitting curbs.
The article, based on interviews with 20 people who worked on the project, goes on to say it was an example of the problems caused by "constantly-shifting goals" and the "revolving door of leaders," in turn caused by an uncertainty of the project itself.
The employee changes have been numerous, including March rumors that it was dissolved. High-profile exits include Director of Machine Learning Ian Goodfellow and automotive engineer C.J. Moore in May,
The example also demonstrated how engineers "waste precious time choreographing demonstrations" along known routes, proving the technology works in specific places but practically nowhere else.
"If you spend enough money, you can get almost any fixed route to work," explained former Uber self-driving vehicle engineer Arun Venkatadri. "But what isn't shown is whether you can build your self-driving software in a scalable fashion and whether you can operate in a reasonably broad area."
There has also been supposed skepticism from upper management about the project as a whole, which has reportedly cost more than a billion dollars per year in research and development. Sources say Cook's tendency to distance himself from product designs and a resistance to visiting the Project Titan offices is supposedly hurting the program, and that Cook's unwillingness to commit to mass production has frustrated project senior executives.
Software chief Craig Federighi has also reportedly been skeptical about the project. Meanwhile, amid ridicule over changes in leadership, managers within Apple have allegedly warned employees to keep away from the project entirely.
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
So I don't get it. Also if Senior Leadership + CEO can't bother to get involved and the whole concept lacks the 'visionary' leader that twice made Apple great. So why waste all that money, as a stockholder I am pissed? For what result? Carplay v2!? Still don't get it.
The glass-half-full perspective might be that Apple will eventually figure it out. It took Apple YEARS to figure out how to enter the TV/film biz. That effort is finally starting to take off and it could be really huge now that ATV+ is starting to make an impact while Netflix is flailing. The move into live sports will cement Apple as a player; as recently as a year ago, observers were writing off ATV+ as a popcorn fart.
I would like to think the same dynamic is going on here... there's a huge opportunity and Apple is trying to figure out its place. Also as a shareholder, I would be pissed if they threw in the towel on PT. They can't and they won't. The fact their biggest competitor is working hard on this, is reason enough for Apple to continue its efforts.
"The article, based on interviews with 20 people who worked on the project..."
It's not just a single Uber engineer's observations.
I'm no management genius, but either pull the plug or go in and solve the problems. You don't let it eat capital while it's on a death bed.
If you're looking for "iphone magic" that's not likely to happen given the statutory requirements imposed on the auto industry, from bumper height to square inches of tail light reflectors. Most of the innovations are going to be "under the hood" or in the body. That doesn't mean the project is not worth doing, as there is a lot of money to be made when done right.
As a separate concept, self driving is on another plane of competence right now, nobody has it worked out. If they are saying they do, they're lying. Just as I told the kids I taught to drive over the years, the people in your car and in every other car on the road are depending on *you* not to kill them. It's a life-changing responsibility, and the same applies to software self driving controls.
The Newton was prime example of some amazing technology that just wasn't ready for the market. Fast forward 10 years and they're able to take those efforts with better display, sensor, and processor technology to create iPhone.
I think that's the main reason Apple can't seem to find the direction for Project Titan. They either don't feel like the technology is quite there to support what is the actual long term vision for it, or they can't seem to align features together in a product that is actually compelling enough to making it a no-brainer to release. Patience always seems to be where Apple manages to excel above most other companies, so I'm still excited to see what they end up doing in the automotive space.
The focus is clear : a self driving electric car. Anything less and people won’t be happy.
Booting Musk after buying Tesla? LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL look at how he's handling the Twitter debacle. It would have been an utter shitshow. Also contrary to Apple's entire history since Jobs came back, if not further back. They make strategic acquisitions of smaller, easily-digestible companies that fit with their vision and plans. They don't make showy, blockbuster acquisitions to buy their way into a market. The Beats acquisition is the sole exception and even then it wasn't exactly one of the showy, blockbuster acquisitions that Wall Street loves.
Long 10,640 shares. How many you got?