It seems as though Apple is increasing the pace of development of some type of self-driving vehicle, what supposedly is being referred to as Project Titan internally at Apple. Earlier this year, Apple released a white paper vaguely describing the company’s self-driving vehicle POV. In it, the company says, “We are investing heavily in the study of machine learning and automation, and we are excited about the potential of automated systems in many areas, including transportation. In particular, we believe that automated driving systems (ADS) have the promise to greatly enhance the human experience in three key areas: improving road safety, increasing mobility, and realizing broader societal benefits.” Several sources tell me that Apple has also recently hired a few traditional auto company employees with experience in automotive procurement and logistics. And 9To5Mac reported last week that Apple hired Tesla’s head of EV powertrains earlier this year, as well as another Tesla VP for some “senior director” position. Two years ago Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, described autonomous vehicle systems as the “mother of all AI projects and probably one of the most difficult AI projects to work on.” Six months ago it seemed that Apple was cutting back on the development of Project Titan as it was reported that 200 employees working on the project were being moved to other areas of the company. Today, it seems that the development of Project Titan is in full swing at Apple.
The Apple of Autonomous
