The Titan Has Fallen
Project Titan, Apple’s initiative to create a self-driving car, has been wiped from existence. Apple basically shut it down, fired some people, and made others work on actual Apple products. So, Apple didn’t really win, but who did?
The answer is Tesla. Keep in mind that Apple was trying to make an electric pod that could whiz itself around town. Apple did pose a threat to Tesla, but now Tesla is able to keep its crown and the Musk man reigns over his dominion.
To fortify their commitment to autonomy, Tesla also announced this Wednesday that cars will be fully autonomous (like no driver at all). Before with Tesla’s Autopilot 1.0, it was pretty much an advanced driver’s aid feature that sparked an interest in autonomous cars. The driver still had to be in the car and touch his hands on the wheel occasionally.
But with the Autopilot 2.0 software update, cars on the road right now will be able to be converted into fully autonomous cruisers. Tesla claims that the processing power in their Tesla Vision software that perceives environments has increased by 40X. It also leverages the data it got from Autopilot 1.0 and is pretty much the safest driver on the planet. Any worries that the car will hit something are far in the past.
In addition to a software update, the $8,000 option will add eight cameras, radar, and ultrasonic sensors. The cars will also be Level 5 autonomous, meaning that they are qualified to drive around with no humans at all. Tesla’s move also validates that fully autonomous cars, ones that don’t even need a driver, aren’t really that expensive like the $100,000 targets some people had in mind.
So armed with this package, your Tesla can pick you up from anywhere and will know where to find you based on your schedule. What??!! The car will also be able to weave through parking lots (without hitting old ladies) while you max out your credit card in the mall. Elon even claimed that the car will be able to find its way across continents!
Well, what does this all mean? For starters, Tesla is going to become the king in both clean energy cars and autonomous ones too. Their hardware, which will be available on all cars (even their $35,000 Model 3), will expand the reach of autonomy, creating safer roads for all. Elon was pretty clever in developing a system where the car actually doesn’t need any human interface as people 20 years from now won’t actually be driving. Rather, they will be summoning cars that they pay by the trip. Tesla owners will make money by putting their car into a fleet operating in the area.
As always, the public is still pretty scared. All rests on the government approving the use of fully autonomous cars with no people in them. But once Elon drives (well there won’t be anyone in the car) a Tesla across the US, people will jump onboard.
