We’ve seen images of Apple’s Project Titan self-driving test car before now, but nothing like the video posted on Twitter on Wednesday.
The short clip, posted by Voyage co-founder MacCallister Higgins, showed what appeared to be a massive fully-contained roof array unit sitting on top of a Lexus SUV test vehicle.
Higgins called it “The Thing” and pleaded for more than 140 characters to go over his findings (via Engadget).
Going to need more than 140 characters to go over 🍎's Project Titan. I call it "The Thing" pic.twitter.com/sLDJd7iYSa
— MacCallister Higgins (@macjshiggins) October 17, 2017
This is significant given reports suggesting Apple is building a system that can be added to existing vehicles, rather than its own self-driving car.
Other roof systems we’ve seen are smaller, but crucial parts of the computational systems are stored elsewhere in the vehicle.
“The majority of the compute stack is likely located inside the roof unit,” Higgins added in a follow up tweet, while also confirming the array features a total of six LiDAR units.
In the know
Voyage itself is a self-driving car company so Higgins obviously knows what he’s talking about here.
Judging by this short clip it appears as if adding Apple’s Project Titan array to your car would be as simple as installing a roof rack.
Should Apple bring Project Titan to market in this guise, the plug-and-play solution might be the simplest and most affordable way for drivers to embrace the autonomous era.
Last year a Bloomberg report claimed Apple had scaled back its self-driving car ambitions in favour of developing a system that could simply be sold to existing manufacturers.
Is Apple’s vision for autonomous cars the way most drivers will get involved? Or is a complete care solution still preferable? Drop us a line @TrustedReviews with your thoughts.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
