Apple’s non-existent self-driving car is already being embraced by consumers, as a new survey shows 26 percent of drivers would “definitely consider” buying a vehicle from the iPhone maker.
Consulting firm Strategic Vision surveyed 200,000 new car owners and, for the first time, added Apple to the more than 45 brands consumers could vote for.
Only Toyota and Honda ranked higher when asked about brand consideration at 38 percent and 32 percent, respectively, while Tesla took in 20 percent. In addition, 24 percent of car owners gave Apple good marks when asked about their impression of quality.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has reported that Apple wants to have a fully autonomous electric car ready sometime in 2025 — but the road to that kind of technology is littered with numerous failed or abandoned efforts.
Scroll down for videos
Consulting firm Strategic Vision surveyed 200,000 new car owners and, for the first time, added Apple to the more than 45 brands consumers could vote for. Above: A concept of Apple’s self-driving car
Only Toyota and Honda ranked higher on the brand consideration question (above) at 38 percent and 32 percent, respectively, with Tesla taking 20 percent. When asked about the impression of quality, 24 percent of car owners gave Apple good marks
The taciturn tech giant hasn’t commented much on the car project lately. CEO Tim Cook told the New York Times last year, “We’ll see what Apple does. We investigate so many things internally. A lot of them never see the light of day.”
Still, the company recently announced that it had hired Gregory Baratoff, who worked at Hyundai, most recently as VP of the autonomous vehicle lab, and oversaw camera sensor development at Continental Corporation in Germany.
Any Apple car would benefit from consumers’ increasing desire for more tech capabilities in their vehicles, and the company could stream its content offerings across all in-car screens, Bloomberg notes.
The Cupertino, California-based company’s efforts to create a 2014 car called Project Titan that’s autonomous, sleek, and loaded with the bells and whistles you’d expect from any Apple product have come on over the years encountered hurdles.
Apple CEO Tim Cook (left) has remained tight-lipped about the company’s efforts to build a self-driving bar, but the recent hiring of Gregory Baratoff (right), who was vice president of Hyundai’s autonomous car lab, points to that ongoing efforts of Project Titan
Apple recently hired Gregory Baratoff, who worked at Hyundai, most recently as VP of the autonomous vehicle lab. Above: a concept from Hyundai’s autonomous vehicle laboratory
The Apple Car Team created several elegant demo videos for Cook and other senior executives to demonstrate the project’s progress. Above: An image of the new Hyundai MOBIS “Smart Cabin Controller” that monitors the driver’s posture, heart rate and brain waves
According to a report by The Information, based on interviews with 20 employees at the company, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering Craig Federighi is “particularly skeptical” about the project and has voiced his concerns to other Apple executives.
Cook – who “rarely visits” the project’s offices in Santa Clara, Calif., was also “unwilling to commit to mass projecting a vehicle,” according to the report, which has frustrated other executives at the firm.
Project Titan has at various times been helmed by Ian Goodfellow, Bob Mansfield, Doug Field and Kevin Lynch.
Earlier this year, one of Apple’s test vehicles almost hit a jogger while moving at about 15 miles per hour.
The Information reports that the car’s software first identified the jogger as a “stationary object” before re-categorizing it as a “standing person” and finally as a “moving pedestrian.” But even with this change, the car “only slightly adjusted its trajectory.”
Apple’s former Chief Design Officer Jony Ive, who played a key role in the design of most of the company’s most popular products, is reportedly consulting with the tech giant and has told the Apple Car team to “draw on the weirdness” of its design and not”. Try to hide the sensors.”
The car’s current look features “four seats that face inward to allow passengers to speak to each other and a curved ceiling that resembles the roof of a Volkswagen Beetle,” reports The Information.
Apple Car designers are apparently experimenting with a trunk that automatically raises and lowers to give owners “easier access to storage”.
They’ve also been considering a design that would allow passengers “to lie flat in the vehicle and sleep,” according to the tech news site.
The Apple Car Team created several sleek demo videos for Cook and other senior executives — including a 40-mile hike through Montana filmed by drones — to demonstrate the project’s progress.
But the example also showed how engineers “waste valuable time choreographing demonstrations along known routes” to prove that the technology works in certain places but practically nowhere else.
“If you spend enough money, you can take almost any fixed route to work,” Arun Venkatadri, a former Uber engineer for self-driving vehicles, told The Information. “But what isn’t shown is whether you can build your self-driving software in a scalable way and whether you can operate in a reasonably broad range.”
The Cupertino, California-based company is reportedly still targeting 2025 for a potential launch of its self-driving vehicle.
According to a report by The Information, based on interviews with 20 employees at the company, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering Craig Federighi is “particularly skeptical” about the project and has voiced his concerns to other Apple executives
Apple’s former Chief Design Officer Jony Ive, who played a key role in designing most of the company’s most popular products, consults with the tech giant and has told the Apple Car team to “draw on the weirdness” of its design and “don’t try”. to hide the sensors.’ Above: a patent filed by Apple in connection with the car project
