Apple Finally Announces Ill-Advised Driverless Car AI, Overshadows GM Field Advancements

Apple CEO Tim Cook finally admitted that his company was working on an artificial intelligence for autonomous driving. This subject has been rumored for months and confirms what many experts predicted. On the matter of driverless cars, GM had good news of its own regarding advancements in its autonomous driving development. Unfortunately, it was overshadowed by Apple’s announcement.

Cook recently made the admission regarding his company’s self-driving car efforts to Bloomberg, where he said that the company was not going to manufacture cars but just the technology. He also expressed excitement regarding the electric car and ride-hailing markets, saying that there is “a major disruption” to be expected when those three fields come together.

This is all well and good in terms of confirming what a lot of people already knew, but it’s also an incredibly risky move on Apple’s part. For one thing, the company is so far behind its competitors that it’s likely to burn through a lot of cash trying to play catch-up, Business Insider notes.

In terms of actual impact on the market, anything that the iPhone maker offers is bound to make huge waves. However, there is still the question of actually getting a product out. Compare that with Google, Tesla, and Uber, and Apple has a long way to go before having anything of substance to offer.

Speaking of actual offers, GM had an announcement of its own with regards to the self-driving technology that it was developing. Although this event was overshadowed by the buzz surrounding Apple’s official entry into the field, Forbes notes how the car company has a significant advantage over tech giants. It actually knows how to build cars.

The company recently completed 130 vehicles for testing purposes of its self-driving, which is 130 more than Apple has. That’s on top of the 50 cars equipped with advanced sensors and LIDAR technology that are already collecting real data on the roads. By combining its expertise in creating vehicles and the software skills of its engineers, GM is poised to having a significant impact on the field.