Apple has reportedly scaled back its automotive aspirations, at least for now. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says The company's decade-old vehicle project has moved from planning a fully autonomous car to an electric vehicle more like Tesla's. The so-called “Apple Car” is now expected to launch no earlier than 2028, two years after the company's last reported target date.
The car's autonomous features have reportedly been downgraded from a Level 5 system (full automation) to a Level 4 system (full automation in some circumstances), and now to a Level 2+ system (partial automation). That would mean it offers limited autonomous driving features, such as lane centering and brake/acceleration support, while still requiring the driver's full attention.
Tesla Autopilot is categorized as Level 2. Level 2+ is not an official designation, but is sometimes used informally to describe a more advanced version of Level 2.
What Apple once envisioned as a car without a steering wheel or pedals (and perhaps with a remote command center ready to replace the driver) now looks more like a Tesla-like entry into the market.
Bloomberg says Apple sees the internal downsizing of the project as “a pivotal moment.” People familiar with Apple's plans reportedly believe that delivering the scaled-down Apple Car with reduced expectations could make or break the entire project. “Either the company can finally deliver this product with reduced expectations or senior executives can seriously reconsider the existence of the project,” Gurman wrote.
Apple has reportedly spoken to potential manufacturing partners in Europe about the updated strategy. Bloomberg He says the company still wants to offer a Level 4 autonomous system at some point, even though its debut is on track to be something more grounded.
Bloomberg describes the meetings that led to Apple's decision as “frantic,” involving CEO Tim Cook, Apple's board of directors and project leader Kevin Lynch. The latter took over after former leader Doug Field left in 2021 (Field was a former Tesla engineering chief who now heads Ford's electric vehicle wing). The board reportedly pushed for leadership on the car plan through 2023.
After starting well from the beginning, self-driving cars didn't have a great 2023. Cruise, GM's robotaxi division, laid off 24 percent of its workforce in December. This occurred after one of the company's vehicles immobilized and dragged a pedestrian who had been hit by another car. The consequences were immediate, as the California DMV suspended Cruise's self-driving permits for safety reasons. On the bright side, Waymo seems to be doing well. But government standards are the wild card in this equation, and perhaps Apple saw the wind blowing in a direction that warranted caution.
Apple's Project Titan has been the subject of rumors since at least the mid-2010s. The company has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on the initiative. According to Gurman, work has been done on “propulsion systems, autonomous driving hardware and software, car interiors and exteriors, and other key components.” Given how many times they've changed the details of the expensive project, don't be surprised if they do it again.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-apple-car-apparently-still-exists-could-debut-in-2028-with-reduced-autonomy-203458008.html?src=rss
