As we continue to learn more about the progress of the Apple Car, some news has been shared today in a Bloomberg report. Apple is working on the important step of finding a supplier for next-generation LiDAR sensors that will be the key to the autonomous aspect of the company’s electric vehicle.
In the latest Apple Car update, the Bloomberg report says the company “is in active negotiations with a number of potential suppliers for these laser-based sensors that allow a car’s computer to” see “its surroundings,” according to their anonymous sources.
Like many of the other participants in the autonomous vehicle space, like Google’s Waymo and GM’s Cruise, Apple is planning to use a LiDAR approach. Notably, in contrast, Tesla believes the answer is a computer-based / camera-based vision system that includes training its AI with large amounts of customer data. Following the LiDAR route, Apple, Waymo, GM Cruise and others will depend on the HD LiDAR maps created for the systems to work towards full autonomy.
Bloomberg notes that about six LiDAR companies “went public through reverse merger in the past few months,” so Apple probably has a fair amount of testing to do. Apple is already using out-of-the-box LiDAR components in its current fleet that is testing self-driving.
However, suppliers with whom it is in active negotiations are expected to offer “dealing with the next generation, which will be considered cutting edge in four or five years”. This hardware should end up being a little less clumsy than the LiDAR we saw in Apple’s autonomous Lexus SUVs (shown above).
Bloomberg notes that Apple’s LiDAR target is another tip in the timeline that the company aims to manufacture its autonomous electric vehicle. Previously, the publication said that the Apple Car could arrive around 2025, as well as Reuters. But Ming-Chi Kuo predicted it could arrive in late 2028.
Last month, we saw a barrage of rumors about the automakers Apple is negotiating with to produce its standalone EV. More recently, Bloomberg has brought together several companies that Apple may end up working with:
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