INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Rumblings of an Apple car started years ago, but now the talk is turning from fumes into something much more concrete.For one, Apple's
has confirmed its interest in the self-driving space
Namely, what form will Apple's self-driving car tech take Will it be an actual Apple Car Will it be tech we can buy and integrate into our
own vehicles Will it be hardware and software licensed to third-party car makers Or, will it be part of a service, run by Apple to transport
us around in driverless carsWe won't know the answers to these questions until Apple itself makes a self-driving car announcement, which
could take place at WWDC 2018 on June 4, but until then, we've gathered up everything we know about the Apple car right here.A car decked
out with Apple's self-driving techCut to the chaseWhat is it Codenamed Project Titan, no one knows for sure what Apple's self-driving
car project entailsWhen is it out A couple more years, at the earliestHow much will it cost There's no way to know for sure considering we
don't know what Apple is makingWhat we know about the Apple self-driving car so farApple's self-driving cars have been seen on public
roadsCEO Tim Cook has confirmed Apple's interest in self-driving car AIApple currently has 55 cars in its self-driving test fleetWhen
rumors of the Apple car first started, it was said that the tech giant was making its own electric vehicle.This wasn't just the stuff of
fantasy; reports indicated Apple had gone on a hiring spree, including plucking top talent from the automotive industry, to build out a team
the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) had issued an Autonomous Vehicle Testing Permit to Apple, allowing it to conduct
self-driving car tests in the state.At around the same time, eagle-eyed observers began spotting mystery SUVs decked out in self-driving car
large rig housing what appeared to be autonomous car tech was seen leaving an Apple facility.Six months later, in October 2017, another
white Lexus with lots of self-driving gear was spotted, and the person who filmed it happens to have co-founded an autonomous vehicle
self-driving hardware, then, can be placed onto vehicles with relative ease, allowing for testing without much modification to cars
This could also mean that Apple's self-driving tech could one day be sold as an add-on to consumers or third-party manufacturers, if Apple
sightings and anonymous reports giving us details about Apple's self-driving car plans
that power driverless cars rather than producing the mechanical components of a vehicle on its own."We sort of see it as the mother of all
Television.So, it would seem that Apple's driverless car plans revolve around creating the software that powers self-driving cars, rather
than creating an actual car or even hardware for a driverless vehicle.This makes sense
Apple is not a car manufacturer (in case you hadn't noticed), and its best chance at excelling in the space would seem to stem from
lab when it comes to testing self-driving car tech, however
It was recently confirmed by the California DMV that Apple has an autonomous testing permit that covers 55 self-driving cars and 83 drivers
behind GM Cruise and ahead of Google's Waymo
Waymo counts 51 self-driving cars under its permit in the Golden State, while GM Cruise has the most with 104.In May 2018,
TheIndianSubcontinent filmed exclusive video of an Apple self-driving car on the road in and around Apple office buildings in Sunnyvale,
self-driving car tech has possibly undergone another update.Watch our video of the Apple self-driving car belowThe biggest change between
lidar pucks are also more vertically oriented; previous sightings showed the lidar positioned at an angle
Additionally, this vehicle has three lidar total on the rear of the roof rig, down from the six seen previously.It could be that Apple
simply did away with lidar and camera casings and made some configuration adjustments in this model while keeping the actual technology the
Apple's self-driving car plans are not so mysterious any more, so it could be the company is lifting the veil on its tech, just a
little.Other Apple car developmentsApple and VW reportedly team up on autonomous employee shuttlesApple patent points to VR entertainment
for self-driving carsAs we've mentioned, Apple's car project has hit some bumps along the way, but that hasn't stopped the tech giant from
forging ahead with its self-driving car plans
And it's not just mystery cars and veiled hints that Apple has going for it.A report from May 2018 by the New York Times points to Apple
partnering with Volkswagen to develop self-driving shuttle buses that would cart Apple employees between its Silicon Valley
but these never came to fruition because Apple wanted the internal car design schematics and access to driving data from partners.So, in
came VW, fresh off its emissions-cheating scandal
Sources said VW donated T6 Transporter vans and allowed Apple access to its data
the model uses the frame, chassis and wheels of the standard VW design, but say that Apple has swapped out the dashboard, seats and electric
an established car maker, but creating a self-driving shuttle service for its employees would be an invaluable case study.Yet another area
indeed any world that the occupants of the car wanted to go through
Fancy a tour through Jurassic Park Done.You could even use the VR experiences to hold a virtual meeting in a virtual office space, according
If no windows are needed, car designs could potentially be more compact and better able to withstand collisions.Of course, this is just a
patent, and not confirmation that anything official is in the works
However, it does show that Apple is thinking about self-driving cars, specifically what we'll do when we're just sitting around inside
self-driving rivalsGoogle's Waymo is dominating the self-driving fieldUber self-driving car tests stallNearly every major car maker is
doing self-drivingApple is far from alone in the self-driving car space
which was once Google's self-driving car project and is now its own company under Alphabet
that it's adding 62,000 more Chrysler minivans to its self-driving fleet
launch a self-driving ride-hailing service in Phoenix this year
As it's leading the pack when it comes to disengagements (when a human has to take over for the self-driving AI), number of cars and miles
driven (6 million autonomous miles and counting), there's a good chance residents of Phoenix will be hitching a ride in a Waymo car before
the year is up.Uber self-driving cars had been hot on Waymo's heals for a while, but a fatal accident in March 2018 derailed the
Safety Board into the accident revealed that while the car in the accident had an emergency braking feature, this was disabled because the
by the ride-hailing company
Self-driving car companies everywhere will be under much closer scrutiny, and many will need to reexamine their own safety procedures to
In fact, it's not just tech companies in the traditional sense that are developing driverless systems, but nearly every major car maker is
only a matter of time before self-driving features becomes standard in most consumer vehicles
Apple may be working on self-driving tech, but it's entering a crowded playing field
The question is, will its tech do anything differentRead on for our earlier coverage of the Apple Carc30d22ad34ae5d3ce7fc688c1ef723cb.jpg#
