Apple Folds on Self Driving, Waymo Ups the Ante

Welcome to the Ride AI Newsletter, your weekly digest of important events and new developments at the intersection of technology and transportation. 

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It’s official: Apple’s self-driving car project is no more. The company invested over a decade of time and at least $10B into the project, which employed around 2,000 people as recently as last year. Many of those workers will be re-assigned as Apple shifts focus to generative AI. (Stay tuned for a special podcast episode, with Apple analyst Horace Dediu, about the demise of the iPhone maker’s AV ambitions, coming soon.)

It’s unfortunate news for self-driving vehicles, which we need more than ever as deaths from human-caused distracted driving continue to increase; we didn’t miss the irony that Apple’s bread-and-butter product (smartphones) are the leading cause of distracted driving. This is especially prevalent in the US, where drivers spend roughly 3x more time on their phones than their European counterparts.

Self-driving startup Waymo continues to forge ahead, receiving approval to expand operations from the California Public Utilities Commission. After the latest decision, the company’s robotaxis are now cleared to operate in Los Angeles and on San Francisco freeways, a significant expansion that will allow the company to make trips to San Francisco International Airport.

Speaking of Waymo, check out TechCrunch’s interview with co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana. She discusses the challenges of autonomous cars and how Waymo has managed to not just survive but thrive when so many other companies have bowed out.

Waymo is also apparently still working with Stellantis, a partnership that was announced in 2020 with virtually no public updates since. Stellantis wants to use Waymo tech to build self-driving delivery vans for commercial use, which present additional challenges beyond simply driving (such as how to get the packages out once the van arrives).

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Bosch Connected World (BCW) took place last week in Berlin, where (among other things) the company announced a partnership with Microsoft. They are working to harness generative AI for automated driving technology, with a primary goal of improving safety for all road users (not just those in giant metal cages).

Nissan plans to bring commercial autonomous vehicles to Japan, announcing a timeline to bring SAE Level 4 taxis to market by 2027. Japan faces unique challenges due to their aging population, seen in the transportation industry as driver shortages which robotaxis can help to address.

The United States Congress announced a new task force focused on artificial intelligence. It’s a bi-partisan group of 12 lawmakers tasked with creating a comprehensive report on the emerging technology of generative AI, intended to protect consumers while also enabling continued innovation.

Hivemapper, a mapping startup hoping to challenge Google’s dominance, announced a new dashcam called the Hivemapper Bee. It’s weather-sealed and can be mounted on the outside of a vehicle, and is now capable of on-device processing (previous models required use of a smartphone app for processing and upload of footage).

Sugar Land Texas —part of the greater Houston area— is working to become a hub for autonomous air taxis. The city is collaborating with Wisk Aero, a Boeing subsidiary specializing in electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, with a rough target date of 2030.