Apple Spent More Than $10 Billion on Apple Car Before Canceling Project::Apple spent more than $10 billion working on the Apple Car over the last decade, according to a report from The New York Times that details the…

  • 2xsaiko@discuss.tchncs.de
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    9 months ago

    Who wants to be the next one to try making “full self driving” cars and waste billions of dollars doing so instead of investing into public transport which would also make driving more safe and more enjoyable because fewer cars would be on the road?

    IMO self driving cars are the epitome of Silicon Valley techbro overly complex “solutions” which look awesome and sci-fi but could only ever solve part of the problem if they became a reality.

    • EasternLettuce@lemm.ee
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      9 months ago

      You realize that overhauling the entire public transportation system in the United States would take trillions of dollars. If you can capture even a percentage of that demand then 10 billion is a small price to pay

  • RubberDuck@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    That’s how in investing in R&D works. Sometimes it does not pan out. It’s a lot of money for many, but apple can afford such programs.

    Just imagine the investments they made during this process. Better than hoarding the wealth.

  • AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Apple will take what it learned from the car project and apply it to other devices like AI-powered AirPods with cameras, robot assistants, and augmented reality.

    At first I parsed that to mean the AirPods would have robot assistants, and I was picturing people with autonomous robotic arms protruding from their ears.

  • Tiger Jerusalem@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Maybe now they can focus on things like fixing bugs and, you know, not letting their OSes being stagnant pieces of rotting shit.

  • Shadywack@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    And I’m sure it was all the workers’ fault, none of the upper crust fuckers who wasted the money will see any penalty for it.

    • ramble81@lemm.ee
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      9 months ago

      Why should there be a penalty? Many companies have R&D divisions which may yield the next iPhone or the next Newton. But if you penalize failures in R&D you won’t ever get any breakthroughs as everyone tries to “play it safe”

      • ilega_dh@feddit.nl
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        9 months ago

        Exactly, the penalty is “losing” 10 billion moneys. It’s a high-risk/high-reward game that Apple can afford.

      • Shadywack@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        First off, 10 billion on a failure shows a great deal of business acumen failings at play. Yes, they can “afford it”, but they afford it with all customers bearing that failure. What’s perhaps even worse is how easily they can afford it, much like Meta’s VR boondoggle.

        As for playing it safe, Apple is the posterchild for that.

      • sugarfree@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        BYD is definitely impressive, but they have the backing of the Chinese state. On the other hand, Tesla is a targeted company. Look at the history of Tesla’s regulatory battles at all levels and it’s unbelievable how they have consistently come out on the other side.