Note: According to relevant legal provisions in California, companies must notify relevant employees and state representatives 60 days in advance before large-scale layoffs.

According to disclosure documents, the list of employees laid off this time is mainly located in several Apple buildings near Santa Clara, California, very close to Apple’s Cupertino headquarters.

These buildings were previously revealed to be related to the Apple car project, so outsiders speculated that after Apple gave up the car project, some of the more than 2,000 people in the development team were transferred to other Apple projects, and these more than 600 people were laid off by Apple.

The post Apple abandons car project, will lay off more than 600 people appeared first on TechGoing.

According to reports, the controller was part of a prototype tested by Apple CEO Tim Cook in 2020 and is “similar to an Xbox controller.” Employees call the prototype the “Bread Loaf” because of its van shape, and the controller is its most mature backup control system. According to reports, Apple executives want the car to be fully autonomous, so the controller is only used when the vehicle encounters complex road conditions that are difficult to handle.

After nearly 10 years of research and development, Apple terminated its electric car project code-named “Project Titan” on February 27 this year.

In an in-depth report, Bloomberg detailed the various design changes the project went through, including what became known as the I-Beam after the Van.

However, the “van” impressed Cook and other Apple executives, and they wanted it to be equipped with the most advanced self-driving software after a test drive, but Bloomberg quoted sources as saying that Apple engineers at the time were not sure whether it could be achieved. There is no confidence in technology.

Apple later changed that strategy and planned to move to a Level 2 autonomous driving assistance system that would allow the driver to temporarily remove themselves from the steering wheel, a far cry from Apple’s original vision. According to Bloomberg, the company’s initial goal is to build a Level 5 autonomous electric vehicle that requires no human intervention at all. It is reported that Apple spends about US$1 billion on this project every year (Note: currently about 7.2 billion RMB).

The post Apple’s car prototype is equipped with a gamepad-style backup control system appeared first on TechGoing.

He pointed out that Apple’s car still has a long way to go, but this car is expected to be available before 2030; and the Vision Pro headset has been confirmed to be released “early next year”, which is a major move for Apple to enter the mixed reality industry. .

In fact, in recent years we have often heard about Apple’s achievements in automobile research and development. Gurman noted that “there is still a way forward for an Apple car,” but don’t expect Apple to release anything for the project in the near future.

Image source Pexels

In addition to this, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo issued another statement in September this year, saying that the Apple Car team will be reorganized before the end of this year. He believes that the project is currently in a state of “disappearance” and doubts that “Apple Car can be put into mass production in the next few years.”

Numerous revelations have long revealed that Apple’s Project Titan aims to be a fully self-driving car that requires little human intervention when driving, but it seems difficult to achieve at this stage.

Project Titan rumors date back to 2014, when the first leaks described Project Titan as being focused on cars. Apple formed a shell company called SixtyEight Research and began work at the SG5 factory in California.

The Project Titan team has gone through many changes. Bob Mansfield, who took over as project leader in 2016, said at the time that Apple would not compete directly with Tesla.

Apple just released its latest financial report last week, which attracted attention in the industry. Data shows that Apple’s total revenue in the fourth fiscal quarter was US$89.5 billion and quarterly net profit was US$23 billion.

THIS IS A SPONSOR PROMOTION: >>>>>>>>>>>>>

Geekwills is an online shop that connects consumers with millions of products and brands around the world with the mission to empower them to live their best lives. Geekwills is committed to offering the most affordable quality products to enable consumers and sellers to fulfill their dreams in an inclusive environment.

The post Mark Gurman: Apple Car Is Years Away, Expected By 2030 appeared first on TechGoing.

Delays are exaggerated

The Apple Car is codenamed “Project Titan” within Apple, a code name that also indicates that it is Apple’s biggest project to date.

Apple has hired more than 1,000 engineers to ensure that the project will succeed. Unfortunately, there have been a number of setbacks along the way, including the fact that several of the project’s leaders have left the company, which has undoubtedly caused some delays. Even so, the media’s portrayal of the delays has been exaggerated.

Production methods

Previously several media outlets reported that Apple had signed deals with automakers like Hyundai and BMW, but Howtoisolve says Apple will take a different tack and lean on other companies like Foxconn. Apple doesn’t intend to let other companies mass produce the Apple Car.

True, Apple has partnered with Lexus to produce some custom cars with LiDAR sensors, which Apple is using to test the sensors and collect data for California’s Project Titan. However, that doesn’t mean the company will rely on Lexus to build Apple cars.

Apple has no reputation as an automaker, so the company thought it should wait until it could compete with a brand like Tesla. If Apple focuses on markets where Tesla does not have a strong presence, it can work to build its reputation as a reliable automaker before trying to compete with Tesla on price.

Asking price

The Apple Car is not going to be cheap. The Apple Car is likely to be priced around $90,000 (about 609,000 RMB). As I mentioned earlier, this information is not final and many things are still subject to change during the development process, but it’s clear that the Apple Car will not be priced cheaply.

Possibly without traditional car keys

Apple may let the iPhone act as a car key, and may not even offer a traditional car key, instead requiring Apple users to use an Apple CarKey to access the car. There’s just no more news on that at the moment.

Time-to-market

Apple intends to begin mass production of Apple cars in 2025. That doesn’t necessarily mean the car will be available in 2025, because the process of building a car takes a lot longer than building an iPhone or Apple Watch. Apple will wait until 2026 to release it, which means users may have to wait until 2026, or maybe even 2027, to buy it.

It will transition to full autopilot

Apple’s goal is to develop cars with fully autonomous driving. Some sources say that Apple intends to include a large number of titanium components in the Apple car.

The post Apple Car more information exposed: priced at about $90,000, the earliest 2026 market appeared first on TechGoing.

Apple initially wanted to build a self-driving car without a steering wheel and throttle, but has now decided that such a plan is not feasible at this time. The report says the car will have self-driving features that work on the highway.

The car will have a custom processor designed by Apple to drive artificial intelligence functions, similar to the Mac, iPhone and iPad. the chip has the arithmetic power of four of the highest-end Mac chips, and is almost ready for production. The car will also have an array of custom LIDAR sensors, radar sensors and camera arrays that can provide the car with positioning information, lane data, and directions compared to people and objects.

Apple will use the cloud for some artificial intelligence processing, and the company is considering a remote command center that could assist drivers and control the car from a distance in case of an emergency, and possibly offer its own insurance plan. Apple’s downgraded vehicle will have a driver’s seat, steering wheel and pedals, just like a regular vehicle. Passengers will be allowed to do things on the highway, such as watch movies. The car will alert when it needs to switch to manual controls on city streets or in bad weather, and the self-driving portion may be limited to North America at launch.

Since Apple launched the Apple Car project in 2014, the project has undergone several shifts in its development. Apple initially planned to develop a full car, then in 2016, rumors surfaced that the car program had been shelved in favor of Apple developing some sort of self-driving system for other vehicles. By 2020, plans for a full car with self-driving capabilities were revived and Apple was testing self-driving technology in an SUV in the San Francisco Bay Area, but it appears that full self-driving capabilities were not ready by the time the first Apple car was launched.

The Apple Car team has also undergone several leadership changes, with John Giannandrea, head of artificial intelligence and machine learning, currently leading the Apple Car project and Kevin Lynch, known for his work on the Apple Watch, overseeing the car.

According to Bloomberg, Apple now aims to launch a consumer-oriented Apple-branded car by 2026, with the goal of knocking its price down to under $100,000 to attract more customers. Apple’s initial plan was to price the Apple Car at more than $120,000, but Apple now plans to lower the price, possibly because the first version of the car will have more limited self-driving capabilities. Apple has not yet finalized the design of the Apple Car, but plans to have the design completed by 2023 and the feature list ready by 2024. Testing will begin in 2025, with a planned launch in 2026.

The post Apple car was exposed to a major downgrade: does not support full self-driving, launch in 2026 appeared first on TechGoing.

Luigi Taraborrelli: former experience

Before shifting his base to Apple, Luigi had 20 years of experience at Lamborghini and has worked on Urus, Huracan and Avantador models released by the Italian brand. He also has his contribution to the limited edition of Huracan- the Sterrato and has also worked on the Asterion concept. The experience that he carries in chassis, handling, steering, and braking systems suggests Apple’s shift in focus from electric powertrains and autonomous driving technology toward driving dynamics. It certainly hints that the much-awaited Apple Car has reached its final stages of design. When Luigi joins Apple he would team up with Desi Ujkashevic, who also has been an import from Ford. At Ford, Desi worked as the car safety development lead.

The quest to launch a car without a steering wheel or pedals or any other controls seems to have been responsible for the huge delay in the launch of this car. Apple is designing the car such that the front rows can swivel around to face the rear seats to allow for some quality time spent inside the luxury car. The Apple car is now slated to launch in the year 2025.

via

The post Lamborghini’s chief of Chassis poached by Apple appeared first on TechGoing.