A new video of what would look like one among Apple’s “Challenge Titan” self-driving automobiles was posted to Twitter last night time, and it seems to be much totally different than it did the last time we saw it. The automotive appears to be outfitted with commonplace third-party sensors and hardware, including (rely ‘em) six Velodyne-made LIDAR sensors, a number of radar models, and a lot of cameras — all encased in Apple-esque white plastic.
The video was captured by somebody who knows his stuff about autonomous automobiles: MacCallister Higgins, co-founder of self-driving startup Voyage (that simply launched its personal pilot ride-hailing project in a San Jose retirement group). Higgins jokingly referred to the car as “The Factor,” almost certainly ribbing Apple for the bulkiness of its sensor array.
Certainly, if you examine Apple’s automotive with the newest iteration of Waymo’s self-driving minivan, the differences are putting. Whereas Waymo has minimized and streamlined its sensors in order that they conform properly with the car’s body, Apple’s are perched on the car’s roof like an unsightly cargo service.
Once I requested Higgins if he caught a take a look at the compute stack, he replied that it was doubtless situated on the roof with the sensors. That may be a departure from other self-driving automotive operators, who sometimes load their high-powered GPUs within the automobiles’ spacious trunks.
Earlier this yr, Apple triggered a stir when it utilized for and received a permit to test autonomous vehicles on public roads in California. We do know, from numerous studies that Apple has ditched its ambitions to build a completely new car from scratch and has as an alternative shifted focused to building autonomous software it might develop for present carmakers. Last July, CEO Tim Prepare dinner confirmed in an interview that the iPhone maker is at present “specializing in autonomous methods” — fairly than, say, a automotive stamped with the Apple emblem — and that this could possibly be used for many totally different functions.
An Apple spokesperson did not respond to a request for remark.
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