In 2019, Apple’s autonomous vehicle testing program declined significantly, with the company’s fleet driving 72,201 miles less than in 2018.
Mikey Campbell for AppleInsider:
According to numbers submitted by Apple to California’s Department of Motor Vehicles, 23 of the company’s 69 registered self-driving testbeds were active between December 2018 and November 2019. Collectively, the fleet of modified Lexus RX450h SUVs logged 7,544 miles during the reporting period, down from 79,754 miles in 2018.
Apple reported 64 disengagements across the 7,544 miles driven, which equates to 8.48 disengagements per 1,000 miles. This compares to a whopping 69,510 disengagements, or 871.65 disengagements per 1,000 miles, recorded in 2018…
Apple appears to have narrowed its reporting methodology in 2019. Of the 64 disengagements, 52 were initiated by the autonomous vehicle system, while human pilots overrode AV decisions 12 times. The most common reason for disengagement was a vague “controls discrepancy” issue.
MacDailyNews Take: Either Project Titan is wining down dramatically or Apple doesn’t need to rack up miles for what they’re attempting to do.
Baidu managed a staggering 0.06 disengagements per thousand miles traveled, and its four development vehicles traveled a total of 100,300.2 miles in 2019. Waymo and Cruise tied for second place, both having just 0.08 disengagements per 1,000 miles… Cruise had 227 vehicles on the road that went a combined 831,039.9 miles. Waymo had just 147 cars testing, but in typical Waymo fashion, they really piled on the miles — 1,453,137.3 to be exact, CNET reports.
Gee, ya think? Maybe because this was all a silly fantasy inflated with VC dollars during the early part of the century? Someday, early 21st century Silicon Valley will sit right next to P.T. Barnum. It was always and continues to be a very well-funded joke. This is the majority of the Valley. The sheer amount of money and time that have been wasted over the past decade – sheesh. To further pretend that any privileged **** in the valley care s about another person makes Barnum look like Jesus. You all are a joke, and have so thoroughly lost the spirit of your forebears it’s impossible to calculate. Go away. We don’t need you. Worse, we don’t want you.
You appear to have a serious attitude problem, James. The primary challenges facing fully autonomous ground vehicles are: (1) The lack of standardization and maintenance of road design, signs, and markings; (2) The lack of foresight to install navigation references along all major roadways, at the very least; and (3) Weather – snow, rain, fog.
Fully autonomous ground vehicles are possible using current technology. The problem is that we have not effectively applied those resources to simplify the challenge rather than expecting a car AI and sensors to function like a human being. And even human beings have a lot of accidents despite the cognitive and sensory advantages.