The New York Times reports that the tech giant has partnered with Volkswagen to build an autonomous shuttle for its own employees’ use.
Prior to that, Apple had negotiated with several automakers, including BMW and Mercedes; however, negotiations had failed as these luxury carmakers had refused to hand over to Apple control of relevant data and design of the vehicle. Apple is now partnering with Volkswagen to remake Volkswagen’s T6 vans into driverless cars. The shuttle is expected to be completed by the end of this year.
This is believed a huge progress for Apple and also for the upcoming generation of transportation; nevertheless, the operation of self-driving cars in reality continues to raise many concerns amongst scientists, companies and regulators. Recently, Governor Michael Dukakis had a discussion with Prof. Iyad Rahwan, Associate Professor of Media Arts & Sciences at the MIT Media Lab and a fellow of the Michael Dukakis Leadership Fellow Program, on ethical problems arising from the development of autonomous vehicles.
