Will Apple's self-driving cars finally start production in 2024?
It has long been rumored that Apple is working on
Exclusive: Apple targets car production by 2024 and eyes'next level' battery technology | Reuters
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-apple-autos-exclusive/exclusive-apple-targets-car-production-by-2024-and-eyes-next-level-battery-technology-sources-idUSKBN28V2PY
Apple Car could begin production in 2024 --9to5Mac
https://9to5mac.com/2020/12/21/apple-car-battery-technology-2024/
Apple's Project Titan started in 2014 when it started designing its own vehicle from scratch. At one point, a large-scale personnel reduction was carried out, so the survival of the project was jeopardized, but as of December 2020, Apple is still striving to develop self-driving cars.
Reuters has obtained some details of the project from an anonymous employee of Project Titan. According to Reuters, Apple is developing self-driving cars for personal use only, and it is fundamentally different from Google's parent company Alphabet's Waymo's 'autonomous driving robot taxi for ride-hailing services'. It's different.
At the heart of Apple's strategy seems to be a 'breakthrough battery' that can significantly reduce the battery cost of self-driving cars while extending the cruising range of the vehicle. Apple is planning to increase the battery capacity by enlarging the individual cells in the battery and eliminating the pouch and module that holds the battery material. Anonymous employees also report that they are investigating the chemistry of lithium iron phosphate batteries (LFP batteries), which do not have the risk of 'thermal runaway,' which is a problem with existing lithium-ion batteries.
In addition, Apple's self-driving cars may have multiple LIDAR sensors to measure the distance between vehicles and the distance between pedestrians and vehicles, some of which are from Apple's internally developed LIDAR unit. It seems that it may be derived. Apple's iPhone 12 Pro has a lidar sensor, so this technology could be applied to self-driving cars as well. However, the supply of sensors such as LIDAR 'will be outsourced to an external partner company,' sources said. In addition, Reuters reportedly asked Apple for comment on Project Titan, but did not get an answer.
Apple's AI director talks about self-driving car related technology under development --GIGAZINE
'With hundreds of millions of electronic products manufactured each year for use in car manufacturing, building a supply chain is a major challenge for Apple, which has never been involved in car manufacturing,' Reuters said. Even Musk's Tesla took 17 years to produce a car that could ultimately generate sustainable profits, 'he said, pointing out the difficulty of entering the car market. I am. On the other hand, a source who was involved in Project Titan said, 'If there is a company on the earth that has the resources to enter the automobile market, it is probably only Apple,' he said, confident in the plan. It is bleeding.
According to sources, Apple will leave the car manufacturing to its partners. In addition, there is a possibility that Apple's self-driving car will be provided by integrating Apple's self-driving system with existing cars instead of Apple's self-driving car.
In addition, sources said that the pandemic of the new coronavirus could delay the production of self-driving cars after 2025.
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