Documents Indicate Apple Is Building a Self-Driving Car

An anonymous reader writes: The Guardian has obtained correspondence through a public records request that indicate Apple is seeking a facility in the San Francisco area to test a self-driving car. "In May, engineers from Apple's secretive Special Project group met with officials from GoMentum Station, a 2,100-acre former naval base near San Francisco that is being turned into a high-security testing ground for autonomous vehicles." The station is a facility left over from WWII, and its 20 miles of highways and city streets are surrounded by barbed-wire fences. Honda and Mercedes-Benz have already used it to test their self-driving car technology. "This security is bound to appeal to Apple, which has hundreds of engineers quietly working on automotive technologies in an anonymous office building in Sunnyvale, four miles from its main campus in Cupertino."

Comments

Would Jobs have taken this path?

[Anonymous Coward]

During its most successful eras, when it was ruled by Steve Jobs, Apple attained this high level of success with a small number of very focused product offerings. The focus resulted in a high level of detail and care being put into the development of these products. They weren't just mediocre. They weren't just good. They were near-perfection.

Sometimes this meant that Apple would miss other opportunities. But that's what happens when one focuses: other things are ignored so the thing in focus can be perfected.

But today's Apple? I see it running wild, chasing at random opportunities without the focus that brought it so much success in the past. We see this in the watches that nobody wants, and the complication of their laptop lineup with the introduction of the very limited MacBook, and now what may be a foray into vehicles.

I don't think that Steve Jobs, the master of product development, would have even considered chasing vehicular products. They are not what Apple is about. It's much like when Debian adopted systemd; yes, it's possible, but it's not the right thing to do. It's a clash of cultures, where the successful culture is betrayed by that which is experimental.

Apple, return to your roots! Focus on the small number of devices and services that made you so great!

Re:Would Jobs have taken this path?

[alvinrod]

Unfortunately stock holders don't like companies that rest on their laurels, especially tech companies. The tech industry has also shown us that no matter what the big thing is today, in 15 years it could very well be gone. For as big as the iPod was for Apple, the phone has completely devoured that market. The only way Apple can sit on their hands is if they control a majority of their own shares, otherwise share holders will always demand growth, which is easier for Apple to do in new or emerging markets rather than in their established product markets.

At some point in the future, most or all cars will self-driving and I would imagine that Apple sees themselves as being the purveyor of luxury self-driving cars, much like they target the high-end of the markets in which they exist today. Personally, I think that they'd be better off getting into large household appliances and tackling the smart home problem, but they've probably spent more time analyzing this than your or I have and think that cars represent more value.

Can't wait

[Skylinux]

Following Apple design trends.

* You get no status lights but a high resolution display to run OS X on
* Turning your car on will take forever and it will not tell you that it is starting up
* You won't know that your car is on but everyone around you will see a glowing Apple logo
* Charging your car will require a new type of Apple connector
* It will have no network ports but you may purchase an expensive adapter
* The car will be 0.5mm slimmer because of the missing network connector
* Adding the size of the various adapters actually makes the device larger then the completion.... but hey, who will notice?
* It will come with WiFi and Bonjour service. Bonjour will constantly DOS the Inter Car Network to discover other hip cars
* Seats will be extremely uncomfortable but they will look fucking awesome
* You will have to upload music using iTunes
* The car expects you to be a total moron so it will not give you a dedicated button for hazards lights and similar things. All of that will be controlled by the in car "Apple AI"

Can't wait what they will produce .....

Re:apple?

[MrDoh!]

And after the first dozen accidents, Apple will trot out experts who claim that the 'drivers' were 'sitting in it wrong' and iCar 8 will fix the problems current drivers are having, but you'll need a new car to get the benefits. Plus, you won't be able to drive and listen to music at the same time, and if you buy the car with an AT&T plan, you'll only be able to drive 50 miles a week before you have to pay for more mileage.

Re: apple?

[binarylarry]

I have a friend in the r&d lab.

Apparently, instead of a steering wheel there's just one giant button.

You will not be able to buy one...

[GeLeTo]

The cars that Apple and Google are developing will not be for sale. They are making self-driving taxis - these will be cheaper and more convenient than owning a car, especially in congested cities. UBER is also working on self-driving cars. At the latest TESLA earnings call Elon Musk was asked if they are working on such service, and after a long silence he refused to answer the question. Big changes ahead for the automotive industry,