Read on Twitter
Ok this tweet is about Apple Car. As far as I concern and making footnotes from various top-tier news publishers such as Reuters, Bloomberg, BBC, The New York Times & The Wall Street Journal, “Project Titan”
is now advancing in the last R&D cycle, and Reuters suggested mass production will happen in 2024
A little history: The project was rumored to be approved by Apple CEO Tim Cook in late 2014 and assigned to Vice President Steve Zadesky, a former Ford engineer as project in-charge
Apple has recruited many industry top-dog including Johann Jungwirth, the former president, and chief executive of Mercedes-Benz; Dan Dodge, the founder and former chief executive officer of QNX, BlackBerry Ltd & Doug Field, formerly senior vice president of engineering at Tesla
The idea of Apple Car actually exists since Steve Jobs still alive in 2010, when Steve invited Bryan Thompson to his house in Palo Alto to discuss the future design of the electric car, V-Vehicle. The car is costing just $14,000
Steve was impressed that a small team without the corporate resources of a major car firm had executed such a good, simple design. It cost one-tenth of the expected investment. Plus, “it has soulfulness”, Steve raved.
Before I explain in simple details what is Apple next supercomputer, let us understand first what is the difference between Electric Vehicles (EVs) and Autonomous Vehicles (AVs). There are types or levels of EVs and AVs too
An EV is a shortened acronym for an electric vehicle. EVs are vehicles that are either “partially” or “fully” powered on electric power. EVs include but are not limited to, road and rail vehicles, surface and underwater vessels, electric aircraft, and electric spacecraft
EVs may be powered through a battery, solar panels, fuel cells, or an electric generator to convert fuel to electricity
There are three main types of electric vehicles (EVs), classed by the degree that electricity is used as their energy source. BEVs, or battery electric vehicles, PHEVs of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, and HEVs, or hybrid electric vehicles
Only BEVs are capable of charging on a level 3, DC fast charge. For full information about EVs, including EV types and battery charging classification, you may go to this website to learn more https://www.evgo.com/why-evs/types-of-electric-vehicles/
According to Bain analysis, global EV adoption will rapidly increase as prices decrease over the next two to eight years, reaching a turning point in 2024. This is why Reuters publish the same news a couple of days ago ref: https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-apple-autos-exclusive/exclusive-apple-targets-car-production-by-2024-and-eyes-next-level-battery-technology-sources-idUKKBN28V2PU
What about Autonomous Vehicles (AVs)? An autonomous car is a vehicle capable of sensing its environment and operating without human involvement
A human passenger is not required to take control of the vehicle at any time, nor is a human passenger required to be present in the vehicle at all
An autonomous car can go anywhere as a traditional car can go and do everything what an experienced human driver does. AVs has a "brain" like a human that could think or "sense" like us in any driving situation
To learn more about six levels of AVs, refer to this source https://www.sae.org/news/press-room/2018/12/sae-international-releases-updated-visual-chart-for-its-“levels-of-driving-automation”-standard-for-self-driving-vehicles
The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) currently defines 6 levels of driving automation ranging from Level 0 (fully manual) to Level 5 (fully autonomous). These levels have been adopted by the U.S. Department of Transportation
Currently, example of Level 5 AVs is Zoox (was founded in 2014, and then acquired by Amazon in 2020). Learn more https://zoox.com
A very interesting thread in Reddit, AMA with Jesse Levinson, co-founder & CTO of Zoox. Personally, I like Zoox, because of its design & technology
Furthermore, now it's part of Amazon. But got several engineers of Apple Project Titan was recruited to Zoox (ahem...) Waymo and Cruise are good too, but I think I prefer Zoox more.
Learn more about AMA Reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/SelfDrivingCars/comments/kdxcky/hello_reddit_im_jesse_levinson_cofounder_and_cto/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb
Learn more about AMA Reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/SelfDrivingCars/comments/kdxcky/hello_reddit_im_jesse_levinson_cofounder_and_cto/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb
In Singapore, AV trials on public roads began in one-north in July 2015. Since then, LTA (Singapore's Land Transport Authority) have expanded the trials to neighboring areas – the National University of Singapore, Singapore Science Park 1 and 2, Dover & Buona Vista
AVs are also being trialed in several other locations in Singapore such as Sentosa and Jurong Island. Besides autonomous cars, trials for autonomous buses and shuttles are also being conducted in these locations
This is very interesting, as I personally will experience this one day. Due to time constraints managing interns and work-life-balance, I still struggle to find a suitable time. Here is videos AV in Singapore
According to Bain analysis, global AV adoption will start to gain momentum by 2028. Over the next eight years, two major uses will emerge: autonomous highway driving for private vehicles, and robo-taxi fleets for urban areas
Regulations will play a substantial role in the timelines for both of these applications
What about Apple Car? Well, this is where the real economy emerging on a global scale. There are many "accessories " you may need to purchase separately if Apple always decides pricing strategy to "always premium" for every new product launch
But if Apple could follow like V-Vehicle pricing strategy before, it could be awesome too. Anyone could buy Apple Car and slowly conquer the global market soon
The question is, Apple Car is EVs or AVs? If the Reuters report is legit, it could be EVs. AVs is what Amazon currently developing with Zoox. But market momentum starts in 2028. I'm looking forward. The technology brief about Apple Car I'll update soon. Stay tuned...
