Apple co-founder, Steve Wozniak, had bought a Tesla to see for himself the advancements being made where self-driven cars are concerned. However, at an interview with CNBC, Wozniak expressed his skepticism regarding self-driven cars, propping his own Tesla up as an example. According to Wozniak Tesla makes, “so many mistakes, it really convinced me that Autopiloting and auto steering car driving itself is not going to happen.”
While he thinks that Autopilot and similar technologies are perfect assistive tools for driving, like spotting red lights and stop signs to “avoid some of the accidents today”; Wozniak is not sure how wise it is to give up complete control of the car to Autopilot, and warns potential drivers to “not lose sight of the fact you’re not going to get a car that drives itself.”
You’re almost more subject in a Tesla these days to being aware and watching the road than you used to, because when you lapse, that’s when those accidents happen and kill people. – Steve Wozniak, co-founder at Apple
Upon being asked if there was a time he wished Apple had bought Tesla, Wozniak has admitted that there was one time when the idea was contemplated; when Tesla was “making a real statement” for electric cars. But this was before this idea gained popularity and went on to trigger other car manufacturers to put serious efforts towards coming up with their own electric vehicles.
As far as the entire concept of self-driving is concerned, Wozniak remains skeptical. He says, “I do not believe in auto-driving cars. I don’t really believe it’s quite possible yet.”
To back up his skepticism, Wozniak says that he thinks that the transport infrastructure itself is yet to be produced with self-driving vehicles in mind. As of now, roads are being built by imperfect humans who are “not as good as nature and mathematics, and even evolution.”
Apple itself has been working on a self-driving vehicle system named “Project Titan” for a while now, and the project includes operating its own self-driving car fleet in California. Initially thought to be for a fully self-designed vehicle, the project has since adhered to developing just the driving system, with alleged long-term goals of working with ride-hailing services.
This has not, however, put a damper on noted analyst Ming-Chi Kuo’s speculations for the launch of Project Titan’s technology in a shipping consumer product by as early as 2023.
