Apple Delays The Launch Of Its Self-Driving Car Until 2026

(CTN NEWS) – According to sources with knowledge of the situation, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday that Apple Inc. (AAPL.O) has delayed the target launch date of its future electric vehicle to 2026 and scaled back its ambitious self-driving goals.

Shares of the iPhone manufacturer dropped 2.4% due to the news.

Apple scales back self-driving car, delays launch to 2026: report https://t.co/j6OgmZhz99 pic.twitter.com/74l8LCwzFP

— New York Post (@nypost) December 6, 2022

Since the business began to design a vehicle from scratch in 2014, its automotive efforts, known as Project Titan, have advanced unevenly.

According to the people who spoke to Bloomberg, Apple is now considering a less ambitious design that will still have a steering wheel and pedals but will only support fully autonomous driving on highways.

According to the article, the company intends to create a car that would allow drivers to perform other chores while on the motorway and receive an alarm with enough time to revert to manual control.

A Bloomberg article from the previous year claimed that Apple was trying to debut an electric car as early as 2025 and had refocused the project to include fully autonomous driving capabilities.

The report stated, “Apple’s dream automobile would have no steering wheel and pedals, with interiors designed around hands-off driving.”

Apple is looking into the possibility of using a remote command centre to aid drivers and manage vehicles during emergencies. The business is also debating providing customers with its insurance policy.

According to the people, Apple originally anticipated that each car would cost more than $120,000, but it now wants to sell them to customers for less than $100,000.

That would place it in a pricing range similar to the entry-level Model S from Tesla and the EQS from Mercedes-Benz.

Ulrich Kranz, the former CEO of Canoo, and former executives from Tesla, Lamborghini, and Porsche are in charge of the car’s design.

https://twitter.com/TheGalox_/status/1404295173895491588

Stuart Bowers, a former Tesla manager, is in charge of the system’s software, and Desi Ujkashevic, a former Ford Motor Co. executive, is in charge of safety engineering, testing, and regulatory issues.

The company’s Zurich team is creating a tool called “Rocket Score” that rates the car’s autonomous system.

This year’s core team suffered a setback when Ian Goodfellow, a well-known AI technology developer who helped to guide the team, left Apple after objecting to the company’s work-from-home regulations.

A Reuters inquiry for comment received no immediate response from the company.

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