Driverless vehicles a “core technology” for Apple – Tim Cook
- ผู้เขียน:Ella Cai
- ปล่อยบน:2017-06-14
Apple’s ambitions for driverless vehicles have become a little clearer after CEO Tim Cook revealed that autonomous systems had become a “core technology” for the tech giant to develop.
In an interview with Bloomberg TV, Cook gave his most detailed comments yet about Apple’s work on autonomous vehicles, describing the challenge of building them and the systems to drive them as “the mother of all AI projects”.
He said: “What we’re focusing on is autonomous systems. Clearly one purpose of autonomous systems is autonomous cars – there are others – but we see it as the mother of all AI projects. It’s probably one of the most difficult AI projects to work on.
“So autonomy is something that’s incredibly exciting for us. We’ll see where it takes us. We’re not really saying from a product point of view what we’ll do. But we are being straightforward that it’s a core technology that we see as being very important.”
In April this year, it emerged that Apple had received a permit to test autonomous vehicles in California, joining a raft of both traditional automotive groups and tech businesses on a list of companies allowed to conduct the tests by the California Department of Motor Vehicles.
It remains unclear whether Apple intends to build complete cars at any point, or if it is only interested in developing the systems to drive them. Its permit to test autonomous cars covers three 2015 Lexus RX450h cars and six drivers.
See more on autonomous vehicles from across the Electronics Weekly website.
In an interview with Bloomberg TV, Cook gave his most detailed comments yet about Apple’s work on autonomous vehicles, describing the challenge of building them and the systems to drive them as “the mother of all AI projects”.
He said: “What we’re focusing on is autonomous systems. Clearly one purpose of autonomous systems is autonomous cars – there are others – but we see it as the mother of all AI projects. It’s probably one of the most difficult AI projects to work on.
“So autonomy is something that’s incredibly exciting for us. We’ll see where it takes us. We’re not really saying from a product point of view what we’ll do. But we are being straightforward that it’s a core technology that we see as being very important.”
Apple’s efforts in autonomous vehicles have been the subject of much speculation and while Cook’s comments shed relatively little light on precisely what the company is doing, they do add to an emerging picture of Apple’s work in the area.
In April this year, it emerged that Apple had received a permit to test autonomous vehicles in California, joining a raft of both traditional automotive groups and tech businesses on a list of companies allowed to conduct the tests by the California Department of Motor Vehicles.
It remains unclear whether Apple intends to build complete cars at any point, or if it is only interested in developing the systems to drive them. Its permit to test autonomous cars covers three 2015 Lexus RX450h cars and six drivers.
See more on autonomous vehicles from across the Electronics Weekly website.
