Is Apple lost with its autonomous car project?


New indiscretions about Apple’s car project hint at a 2026 launch, a $100,000 price tag and waning ambitions for self-driving. Since the first rumors, the project continues to be upset.

In the projects currently in development in the offices of Apple, two are in the process of becoming Arlesians, even fantasies. First there is the mixed reality headset, which is now promised for the second half of 2023. But above all the all-electric car, known as Project Titan, which seems to pose a lot of problems for the Californian company. It hadn’t been heard from for a while, but Bloomberg shared several indiscretions in an article published on December 6. We discover that the ambitions have been revised downwards, while the latest rumors said that Apple once again believed in its project.

Thus, the vehicle would no longer make autonomous driving its mainstay, while it was said that Apple would only offer a completely autonomous vehicle. It would then keep pedals and a steering wheel, reserving autonomous driving for certain favorable circumstances (example: expressways). In short, we are far from the 100% autonomous car originally sketched, the one likely to revolutionize the automotive market and articulated around a software mastery superior to the others.

The new CarPlay was presented at Apple’s WWDC // Source: Numerama screenshot

An Apple car less ambitious than expected

This revision of the car’s autonomous capabilities suggests a certain wait-and-see attitude on the part of Apple, when Tesla is much more aggressive in this area devoid of a clear legislative framework. It would also allow the Cupertino company to offer a vehicle under the $100,000 mark (against $120,000 originally) – a price difficult to judge without knowing the category to which it belongs. If it’s a compact sedan, it would struggle to compete with the Model 3, which has a floor price of $47,000. On the other hand, it could come boxing in the same category as the Model S – sold from $105,000.

To animate his car, Apple would rely on an architecture, code name “Denali”, whose processor would be four times more powerful than the best chip currently available in Macs (the M1 Ultra). In particular, it would be responsible for controlling all the sensors necessary for piloting assistance, that is to say a LiDAR and radars. On this point, Apple would differentiate itself from Tesla, which relies only on cameras with its Vision system. The “Denali” architecture would also use data in the cloud, stored on Amazon Web Services infrastructure and analyzed by artificial intelligence. In short, nothing that car manufacturers who are already well advanced on the subject of autonomous driving are not already doing.

Regarding the launch, it should a priori be patient. Bloomberg understands Apple’s car won’t hit the roads until 2026, which would be another year behind schedule. Until then, we are ready to bet that there will be new postponements.

The new CarPlay was presented at Apple's WWDC // Source: Numerama screenshot
The new CarPlay was presented at Apple’s WWDC // Source: Numerama screenshot

Should we still believe in Apple’s car?

These new rumors, if they may seem reassuring about the good health of a long-awaited project, ultimately only maintain the vagueness around the car that Apple has been dreaming of for ages now. Indeed, they are in total contradiction with hallway noises shared about a year ago, coming from the same source (Bloomberg). The differences prove that the Cupertino company does not really know where it is going in this project which must swallow up millions and millions of dollars.

The recent history of Project Titan :

  • January 2019: Apple cut the project by 200 people, suggesting a serious brake on the development of a real car;
  • December 2020: Project Titan is reactivated, with a planned launch in 2024. Proprietary battery technologies are discussed;
  • November 2021: the ambition is to launch a 100% autonomous car in 2025, with bench seats that would face each other and be arranged around a large touch screen.

As you can see, Project Titan has gone from a car, to technologies to provide to others (as is already the case with CarPlay), then to a 100% autonomous car, and now to a car that is not so autonomous as that. Each year, the nature of the project changes, which does not encourage optimism. In the past, Apple has already tried to revolutionize sectors before changing strategy (television for example, Apple was content with its Apple TV box). Nothing says that the Apple car will see the roads one day, especially if the manufacturers integrate the new CarPlay.



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