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Bloomberg also recently conducted an in-depth report on Apple Car and autonomous driving, indicating that it is currently in the early development stage. Apple will not release Apple Car until at least 2026 to 2028. It is not like Taiwan media broke the news that it will release Apple Car in 2021. The report also pointed out in detail that Apple has added a number of senior Tesla executives and more autopilot details and car-building plans.
Apple Car will not be released until at least 2026
Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman According to people familiar with the matter, Apple has formed an internal development automotive hardware engineering team, and even the project has joined many former Tesla executives, mainly for the development of drive systems, vehicle interior and exterior body design, and ultimately The main goal is to build a complete car, which is very different from the goal a few years ago. The current main goal is to develop an autonomous driving system first.
Apple started the electric car “Project Titan” as early as 2014. Internal engineers stated that Apple plans to release the Apple Car within 5 to 7 years, but people familiar with the matter also revealed that the current Apple Car has not yet reached the production stage. , Time may also change, because most teams are currently affected by the epidemic and can only work at home or in the office for a limited time, which will also delay the development of cars.
Apple Car electric vehicles are comparable to products from mature automakers such as Tesla, Lucid Motors, Mercedes-Benz, and General Motors Chevrolet. The main advantage of Apple’s electric vehicles lies in the autonomous driving system, which is a software developed by Apple and sensor hardware. Based on the body and chip technology, according to the project members, the ultimate goal of Apple Car is to allow the driver to enter the destination, and then it can automatically drive to the destination without any operation.
People familiar with the matter also revealed that Apple does not plan to produce its own cars, and has been studying how to cooperate with third-party automotive partners. It has not yet confirmed which company it will find to assemble the car. Apple also tried to find a component manufacturer Mai Magna International also failed in the final negotiations. Sources claimed that the company would like to assemble cars in an foundry model. Recently South Korean media Korea Economic Daily TV also announced that Apple and Hyundai Motors are discussing cooperation. The cooperation between the two parties lies in vehicle manufacturing and batteries. Development.
Apple’s ultimate goal to build an Apple Car self-driving electric car
Apple’s electric car project “Project Titan” started in 2014. The team has 100 members. Until 2016 to 2019, Apple intends to focus only on the development of autonomous driving systems, and finds it possible to quit in 2013 Doug Field, a veteran Tesla employee, is in charge of the project planning director. At the same time, 190 employees will be abolished from 2019 to 2019. The team will only retain hardware development engineers with automotive expertise.
In recent months, Apple has obviously re-developed cars. In 2019, Apple hired Steve MacManus, a Tesla executive, who was mainly responsible for the interior and exterior design of the car. According to people familiar with the matter, MacManus is leading the development team, focusing on the design of the Apple Car interior. , Automotive testing and automotive manufacturing, and will report project projects with Doug Field every day.
At the same time, Apple has recently hired a large number of employees and senior executives from Mercedes-Benz, Ford, Fiat and other companies. The current Apple Car development team has reached 600 people, and more and more former Tesla employees are engaged in Apple Car development projects within Apple. It is understood that the team is composed of dozens of former hardware and self-driving car engineers from Tesla and hundreds of engineers are currently working on this project, most of which are focused on developing self-driving systems rather than building cars.
Until the end of 2020, Apple will hand over the Titan project to John Giannandrea, the head of artificial intelligence, and there are many signs that Apple is developing the underlying software platform. Among them, the hardware team is also studying vehicle power, transmission system, safety mechanism and battery technology, and at the same time redesigning the interior of the car to adapt to future autonomous driving.
In recent months, Apple’s internal work list indicates that the Apple Car car development project has been continuously increasing. At the same time, it is looking for a chief engineer who can integrate audio drivers, tuners, speakers, microphones, wired buses, power supplies, and wireless communications. And the antenna is integrated into the self-made system.
This job list also requires a senior LED development experience engineer who can provide a fully verified system for mass production. There is also a high-voltage battery system in the list, which requires battery engineers to conduct research.
People familiar with the matter pointed out that the Apple chip team led by the current Apple hardware technology vice president Johny Srouji has played a lot in the Apple Car development project. Since 2018, the Srouji team has been focusing on the development of ARM chips, which is now the Apple M1 chip. , The main focus is that machine learning processing can provide power for the bottom layer of the autonomous vehicle system.
Since 2017, Apple has continued to test its autonomous driving system on real roads. Until 2019, autonomous vehicles have driven an average of 118 miles. According to California DMV data, Apple’s current autonomous vehicles have reached 55 in 2018. 66 vehicles.
Apple Car Autopilot System Tested on Cupertino Road
Currently, Apple is also continuing to develop the Apple Car and autonomous driving system, which is expected to be released after 2026 at the earliest. Reuters previously revealed that Apple aims to produce the first autonomous driving electric car (Apple Car) between 2026 and 2027, and will It is equipped with self-developed battery technology for generations, but Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes that there are three uncertainties in Apple Car. All development will go smoothly and it will not be possible until 2025-2027 at the earliest. The time of the three parties indicates that Apple Car has to wait at least I will see it in 5 years.
source:bloomberg
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