The race of perfecting the first mainstream autonomous vehicle is well under way, with participating countries coming from the automotive, manufacturing, and technology industries. Tech giants like Facebook, Google, and even Apple have experimented with their own autonomous concepts—all of which have been shrouded in secrecy.
That’s changed for Apple when a new video of the company’s “Project Titan” autonomous vehicle surfaced on Twitter earlier this week. The footage captured a Lexus RX (the autonomous car model Apple is using) with an array of sensors and cameras clustered on the vehicle’s rooftop. As mentioned earlier, the latest model of “Project Titan” appeared crammed with standard third-party sensors and hardware, including six Velodyne-made LIDAR sensors, a multitude of radar, and camera units (that were all encased in the classic Apple-white plastic).
Footage previously obtained of Apple’s “Project Titan” showed an earlier generation of the Nissan RX, with a sensor array that had a less-refined appearance. The biggest takeaway from industry buffs who initially viewed the footage was how distinct the differences in this current model of “Project Titan” were this time around, compared to the previous instance.
The video was captured by MacCallister Higgins, co-founded of self-driving startup Voyage, who jokingly referred to “Project Titan” as “The Thing” —a likely jab aimed at the vehicle’s swarm of bulky car roof sensors. The comment is justifiable when you compare Apple’s car with the latest version of other autonomous vehicular concepts like Waymo’s self-driving minivan. While Waymo miniaturized and streamlined its sensors adhering to the vehicle’s body, Apple took a more apparent approach by compacting this equipment on their vehicle’s rooftop. This contrasts strongly from other self-driving car operators, who’ve traditionally utilized their vehicle’s trunk space for storing GPUs.
Apple sent waves through their industry and state of California when the company applied for (and received) a permit to test autonomous vehicles on the state’s public roads. According to reports, Apple abandoned its plans of constructing an autonomous vehicular model from scratch, and is focusing on the software aspect of driverless vehicle technology that can be developed for existing automotive manufacturers. This was reaffirmed over the summer when Apple CEO Tim Cook mentioned how Apple has redirected its focus on autonomous systems instead of developing a vehicle to brandish the Apple logo.
You can view the Higgins footage below.
