[msb-alumni] CEO Tim Cook: Apple exploring self-driving cars
- From: Steve <pipeguy920@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <msb-alumni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2017 16:31:36 -0400
BlankHe admitted this at the WWDC last week, I mean, I think we all had that
figured out a couple years ago.
Steve
CEO Tim Cook: Apple exploring self-driving cars Mike Snider , USA TODAY
OK, Apple is officially working on self-driving cars. CEO Tim Cook recently
elaborated
on the Cupertino, Calif. -based tech giant's plans in an interview with
Bloomberg.
"We're focusing on autonomous systems," Cook said in an interview during the
Apple Worldwide developers Conference, published online Tuesday. "It's a core
technology that we view as very important."
Cook was unsure whether Apple
would build its own self-driving cars. We sort of see it as the mother of all
AI
projects,' he said. 'It's probably one of the most difficult A.I. projects
actually to work on. With'self-driving cars, electronic cars and ride-sharing,
the automotive landscape has "three vectors of change'happening'generally
in the same time frame," Cook said. Remember, Apple invested $1 billion in
Didi,
a ride-sharing company in China last year. And it also reportedly hired
Dan Dodge, the former head of Blackberry's automotive software division,
Bloomberg reported . Apple had long been rumored to be at work on its own
autonomous
vehicle as part of an initiative called Project Titan,'but the company had yet
to officially confirm its plans. The company had hired more than 1,000 engineers
as part of that initiative, Bloomberg reported. Then last year, Apple
reportedly
reduced the staffing of its non-confirmed car project, a move some considered
a refocusing of the company's vision. Two months ago, the California Department
of Motor Vehicles added Apple to the list of'applicants to test autonomous
vehicles. And in December 2016, Apple sent'a letter sent to'the National
Highway
Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) about the Department of Transportation's
Federal Automated Vehicles Policy and its desire to work with the agency on
helping to define industry best practices. "The company is investing heavily
in the study of machine learning and automation, and is excited about the
potential of automated systems in many areas, including transportation," wrote
Steve Kenner, Apple's director of product integrity, in the letter . With
dozens
of companies working on self-driving cars, the Boston Consulting Group
estimates the global market for fully autonomous vehicles could grow from $42
billion in 2024 to nearly $77 billion in 2035 (and 12 million fully autonomous
vehicles in use by then). Whether Apple's research into autonomous driving
systems results in a car remains to be seen. It's an important core technology,
Cook said. "We'll see where it takes us," he said. "We're not really saying
from
a product point of view what we will do.
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