Schauen wir mal hinter die Kulissen von Apple's Aktivitäten beim Autonomen Fahren.
Since throwing its hat into the self-driving ring, Apple hasn’t exactly given much away in terms of its autonomous driving vision. But a patent discovered last week by Patently Apple might just provide a window into its thinking. And ironically enough, it seems the autonomous cars it envisages will be giving everything away – by letting the car’s occupant and any other observers know it’s every move in advance. The patent describes various methods of operation for an autonomous vehicle. But the central idea is that the car would make its intentions known to both the driver and other nearby road users via inward and outward facing displays (much like the drive.ai vans we featured). A ‘countdown indicator’ would show the seconds remaining until the next operation along the planned route: e.g. turning left in ten seconds. For me, the technical details of the display etc. are neither here nor there. The most interesting aspect of this story is that the thing seemingly at the core of Apple’s system design is connection with the user(s). Considering its prowess in user interface design in other products, that comes as no real shock. The intention of this display is obviously to remove surprises. When we drive we feel a connection with other humans that allows us to read off them: for example, if someone is checking their wing mirrors repeatedly, they’re probably going to change lane, whether they indicate or not. When that connection is lost, people lose trust. And as I will never tire saying, trust is the key to acceptance. Apple seems to agree.
