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Apple is building a self-driving car in Silicon Valley, and is scouting for secure locations in the San Francisco Bay area to test it, the Guardian has learned. Documents show the oft-rumoured Apple car project appears to be further along than many suspected.
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.
In correspondence obtained by the Guardian under a public records act request, Apple engineer Frank Fearon wrote: “We would ... like to get an understanding of timing and availability for the space, and how we would need to coordinate around other parties who would be using [it].”
Automobile manufacturing is a radical departure from Apple's core business. Can they pull it off?
Original Submission
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 15 2015, @06:38PM
Given the amount of research Apple has done on self driving cars (next to zero) I suspect much of this tech has been "borrowed" from others.
Judging from the engineers they have poached from actual car manufacturers it also seems likely they are "borrowing" a lot of chassis and suspension technology. As someone else noted, there are many diverse systems to be integrated into a car and getting just one of them wrong could ruin the "riding" experience.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Saturday August 15 2015, @08:52PM
They couldn't be bothered to make their own iPhones, why would they make their own cars?
They will just contract that out to some Chinese/korean car manufacturer, and bolt on their electronics and sensor packages.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.