‘Apple experimented with ball-shaped wheels for its own car’

Apple employees working on the development of a self-driving car have disclosed various details to The New York Times. Apple is said to have attempted to reinvent the wheel by using ball-shaped wheels.

The experimental wheels should make lateral movements easier. It’s not clear how far Apple was with the technology, but it turns out to be one of the experiments the company conducted in recent years, when it still had the ambition to design its own car.

It’s one of the details five Apple employees tell The New York Times. According to the American newspaper, they cooperated with the article under the condition of anonymity. In fact, they are not allowed to comment on their involvement in the project. The five are part of the team codenamed Titan.

The project ran into difficulties due to its size and lack of a clear vision, the five employees say. Members of the team complained about changing priorities and unrealistic deadlines. Also, Apple is said to have already started developing an operating system called CarOS, while there was still an ongoing debate about whether it should be programmed in Apple’s own programming language Swift or in the industry standard C++.

There was disagreement within Apple about whether to develop a fully autonomous car, or a semi-autonomous model, where the driver can also steer himself. Steve Zadesky, who was initially in charge of the project, would prefer a semi-autonomous model, while lead designer Jonathan Ive would favor a fully autonomous model. Last year, Apple reversed plans for the Titan project and put Bob Mansfield in charge. He put plans for his own car on hold and fired some of the staff.

Those involved say Apple is currently testing a self-driving shuttle bus that transports employees between two company buildings. It is probably an existing car that is equipped with Apple technology for autonomous driving. That illustrates the changes that the Titan project has gone through.

The Titan project started in 2014 and many Apple veterans were deployed. In addition, numerous specialists were hired to develop their own car. Initially, many different options were considered. For example, motorized doors and an interior without a steering wheel or pedals were looked at. The team also worked on integrating augmented reality capabilities into displays. In addition, the Titan team explored the use of lidar and the ability to unobtrusively integrate the technology into a car’s design.

In June, Apple CEO Tim Cook publicly confirmed for the first time that the company is working on technology for self-driving cars. The CEO clearly hinted that Apple is not working on its own car, but wants to supply technology to automakers. Tim Cook stated that creating systems for autonomous cars is one of the biggest challenges when it comes to artificial intelligence. He spoke of ‘the mother of all AI projects’.