Apple is accelerating car work, aiming for a fully autonomous vehicle New Technologies

Apple Inc. it is pushing to accelerate the development of its electric car and is focusing the project on full self-driving skills, according to people who know the subject, with the aim of solving the technical challenge exacerbated by the auto industry.

In recent years, Apple’s automotive team has explored two avenues at once: creating a model with limited driving and acceleration-oriented self-driving capabilities — similar to most current Tesla Inc. cars — or creating a full-fledged self-driving version. it does not require human intervention.

Under the new leader in the effort – Apple Watch software director Kevin Lynch – engineers are concentrating on the second option. Lynch is pushing for a car with a full car driving system in the first version, people said, and asked not to be identified because the discussions are private.

It’s just the final round of the car’s effort, known as the Special Projects Group or “Project Titan,” which has undergone strategy changes and executive billing since it began around 2014. In September, former team leader Doug Field left. After working for Ford Motor Co. for three years. When Lynch was selected as a replacement, he went with an internal director who is not a veteran of Apple cars.

In trying to master the cars he drives, Apple is chasing the holy grail inside the industry. The tech and car giants have been in autonomous vehicles for years, but the capabilities have remained elusive.

Tesla, the market leader in electric vehicles, is still a few years away from offering fully autonomous cars. Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo has undergone a breakthrough in its technology development efforts. And Uber Technologies Inc. last year approved the sale of the self-driving division.

Apple aims to market the car it drives within four years, faster than the five- to seven-year period predicted by some engineers earlier this year. But time is running out, and meeting that 2025 target depends on the company’s ability to complete its self-driving system, an ambitious task at that time. If Apple can’t achieve its goal, it could delay a release or initially sell a car with lower technology.

A spokesman for Apple in California, Cupertino, declined to comment.

Apple’s ideal car would have no steering wheels and pedals, and its interior would be designed around driving without hands. One option discussed within the company has a similar interior to Canoo Inc.’s Lifestyle Vehicle, which is a beginner in the EV industry. In that car, passengers sit on the sides of the vehicle and face each other as they would in a limousine.

Apple has also looked at the car’s infotainment system – likely a large iPad-like touch screen – that would be in the center of the vehicle, allowing users to interact with it during a ride. The car would also be highly integrated with Apple’s existing services and devices. Although the company is pushing for it not to have a standard steering wheel, Apple has been discussing how to supply the car with an emergency mode.

Recently, the company has reached a key milestone in the development of a self-driving system under the car, according to people familiar with the situation. Apple believes it has finally completed much of the basic work of the processor it wants to ship to the first generation of the car.

The chip was designed by Apple’s silicon engineering team — which designed the iPhone, iPad, and Mac processors — rather than within the car team. The work included improving the underlying software running on the chip to strengthen self-driving skills.

Advances can be made soon in road tests. Apple plans to start using the new processor design and updated self-driving sensors to test the new cars it has spent years in California. The company currently has a fleet of 69 Lexus SUVs experimenting with its technology, the state Department of Motor Vehicles reported.

The Apple car chip is the most advanced component developed by Apple internally and is primarily made up of neural processors that can handle the artificial intelligence needed for autonomous driving. The chip’s capabilities mean it will heat up and will likely need to develop a sophisticated cooling system.

The hope is to develop a vehicle to relieve customer fatigue when driving on long journeys. But building a real car – for an outsider in the auto industry like Apple – will require partnerships. The company has discussed agreements with several manufacturers and plans to build the vehicle in the US

Even with the latest advances, the creation of a fully self-driving car by 2025 is seen as very aggressive within Apple. Some people on Project Titan are skeptical about the timeline.

Security is the main piece of the puzzle. Apple wants to build stronger protections than are available from Tesla and Waymore, say the engineers involved in the effort. This leads to a lot of redundancy: the ability to deploy layers of backup systems to prevent security and drive system failures.

Apple is actively looking to hire engineers to test and develop security features. “The Special Projects Team is looking for an excellent mechanical engineer with critical safety features to lead the development of mechanical systems,” says a recent Apple job listing. “You will use your passion to invent things to help design security systems and correct the testing and countermeasures of those systems.”

As part of its efforts to accelerate the project, Apple is hiring more car driving and car hardware engineers. That includes gathering CJ Moore, Tesla’s former director of auto driving software.

In recent weeks, Apple has become a climate system expert at Volvo Car AB, a manager at Daimler Trucks, a battery systems engineer at Karma Automotive LLC, and other automakers, a sensor engineer at Cruise LLC at General Motors Co. , has also taken on automotive safety engineers. From companies like Joyson Safety Systems and many other Tesla engineers, according to information from Linkedin and people with knowledge of the subject.

The company also hires software engineers to work on “experiences with autonomous technology in human interaction,” according to an Apple job listing, suggesting that it is deepening the development of the car’s user interface. The list means that the software being developed will be based on technology similar to the iPhone operating system.

[File: Bloomberg]

To turn on the vehicle, Apple has argued that it is compatible with a combined charging system or CCS. This could put Apple in a wide global network of chargers. But the approach would be different from the more proprietary charging systems he has developed for the iPhone and Apple Watch.

Apple has discussed several different business models for its car, including Uber, Lyft Inc. and the creation of a fleet of self-driving cars that would compete with the likes of Waymo. The company has discussed a Canoo-like exterior design if it were to take a fleet approach. The likely scenario, however, is for Apple to offer cars for individual ownership.

Getting to that point will not be easy. Apple’s car project has faced development challenges, leadership struggles, layoffs and setbacks in its seven-year history. The arrival of Field Tesla in 2018 brought great excitement, which was eventually lost. At least four senior executives came out of the project in 2021, in addition to Field.

Some members of the group believe Field was angry that John Giannandrea was reporting to the head of artificial intelligence after his former boss, Bob Mansfield, retired. Mansfield briefed CEO Tim Cook directly on the part-time job that oversaw the work of the cars.

Lynch is now the fifth executive to have been in charge of the project for about seven years. This billing rate is rare for Apple. For example, its virtual and augmented reality team has been a leader since the project was launched at the same time as the car.

However, given Lynch’s ability to help make the Apple Watch a staple product, some engineers in the automotive team see it as a symbol of its designation. Lynch reports to Jeff Williams, Apple’s chief operating officer.

Lynch is an in-car hardware or software manager with no independent experience, but former Tesla project managers — including Michael Schwekutsch and Stuart Bowers — play key roles. Apple also hired Ulrich Kranz earlier this year. He previously led Canoo and helped oversee the development of BMW’s electric cars.

When Lynch was chosen to take over the car project, he continued to be in charge of the Apple Watch operating system and some health software teams. He has continued to make senior decisions for much of his time focusing on the car project.

The question now is whether an executive who oversaw one of Apple’s last big things — his smartwatch — could turn a car into his next.