Seeing a piece of technology, like a smartphone or tablet, get a proper teardown to see what makes it ticks and all the parts inside is par for the course these days.
So about for a product that doesn’t even exist yet? Thanks to Re/code, that’s exactly what we’re looking at in this hypothetical teardown of which companies could be helping Apple bring its Apple Car to the market several years from now. At this stage, the self-driving car from Apple is practically a foregone conclusion, especially with reports surfacing recently that suggest the project is now a committed one in Cupertino. And, with a target ship date of 2019, obviously the program is going full-throttle right now.
But with a car that will inevitably be as advanced as it can be, especially for a car rolling out near 2020, there are a lot of different companies that will need to be involved to make sure it’s every bit as smart as it can be, with a ton of features baked in, too. So, the publication put together a “teardown” of the Apple Car to see which companies are most likely to be tapped when putting the Car together in a few years.
“The list below is not exhaustive. Yet after conversations with nearly a dozen manufacturers, industry experts and tech companies involved in the world of self-driving cars, Re/code assembled a portrait of the leading, innovative companies and critical dynamics in the autonomous industry.”
So, breaking it down, the publication indicates that as far as chips are concerned, it’s more than likely that Apple will utilize the strengths of NVIDIA and its automotive division — which was created back in 2007 — for the brains of the vehicle. It’s worth noting as well that Apple recently hired NVIDIA’s Director of Deep Learning, Jonathan Coen. However, Re/code also notes that Qualcomm, Mediatek and Samsung are on the list as well.
The exterior of the vehicle could be developed by several companies, including Delphi, Edison2, Atieva, Renovo Motors and Roush. The last name, though, already has a strong argument for the number one spot, considering it put together the exterior for Google’s self-driving cars.
The interior of the Apple Car has to be just as advanced as any other part of the vehicle, as it includes the technology that makes a self-driving possible. According to the report, that means companies like Continental, Bosch, and Frimo could be tapped to help build out those ideas. For its part, Bosch already supplies components to Tesla for that company’s “auto-pilot” functionality.
One other crucial point will be the camera systems/LIDAR, to which the publication states Apple could utilize the services of Mobileye, Velodyne, Valeo and Quanergy. Below, you can see a quick video of Mobileye’s prowess in pedestrian detection:
In the end it’s all hypothetical predictions for a product that isn’t official by any means, but it certainly is a good look at what could very well be the real deal when, or if, Apple does officially announce its Car.
[via Re/code]
Like this post? Share it!
No comments:
Post a Comment