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This gave me the impression that 17 engineers left all at once in a coordinated way, but after reading the article I'm still not sure. Over what period of time

This gave me the impression that 17 engineers left all at once in a coordinated way, but after reading the article I'm still not sure. Over what period of time did the 17 engineers leave? If they all coordinated and left at the same time that's quite a statement.

X86BSD 9y ago
That's not quite as interesting to me as the fact that no one has cracked this nut yet. No one. You've got the top tech companies on the planet trying to be first and as of yet not one of them has managed it. I thought Apple would be first or a close second with a better and more refined solution. But they have supposedly given up on the larger picture and are focusing on the software. If I was an engineer this is clearly where I would seek to work, this is obviously one of the harder tech problems to solve.
- mrDmrTmrJ 9y ago
  You're spot on. Autonomous driving (level 4/5) has been demo'ed by a few players at low speeds, but no-one has a product to market yet. While Google/Waymo currently seems to be farthest, it will take 10 years for clear winners to emerge. One of Zoox advantages (compared to Apple) is that as a pure play autonomous driving company they can retain focus over long time scales. The Apple project seems to have changed focus multiple times.
- phlipski 9y ago
  I'm reminded a bit of the engineering challenges of the original "Star Wars" program during the Reagan administration. I recall an engineer being quoted as saying, "They're trying to solve 10 manhattan projects at once" in order to get the whole system working. Self driving autonomous cars that present a near 0 chance of failure based upon current environmental conditions (traffic/bad drivers/weather/etc..) is a huge challenge.
breitling 9y ago
"...and were hired by the startup in piecemeal fashion in recent months, the people said" The time line is unclear, but they did not all leave at once apparently.
- finkin1 9y ago
  Right, but it still could have been a coordinated leave, which in my opinion would be a pretty strong signal that Apple is having problems with self driving technologies. I just don't get why the author wouldn't have been more explicit about if his impression was that it was a coordinated leave.
dep_b 9y ago
Probably with one or more ex-Apple employees hired the poaching goes so much easier.

X86BSD 9y ago

That's not quite as interesting to me as the fact that no one has cracked this nut yet. No one. You've got the top tech companies on the planet trying to be first and as of yet not one of them has managed it. I thought Apple would be first or a close second with a better and more refined solution. But they have supposedly given up on the larger picture and are focusing on the software. If I was an engineer this is clearly where I would seek to work, this is obviously one of the harder tech problems to solve.

mrDmrTmrJ 9y ago
You're spot on. Autonomous driving (level 4/5) has been demo'ed by a few players at low speeds, but no-one has a product to market yet. While Google/Waymo currently seems to be farthest, it will take 10 years for clear winners to emerge. One of Zoox advantages (compared to Apple) is that as a pure play autonomous driving company they can retain focus over long time scales. The Apple project seems to have changed focus multiple times.
phlipski 9y ago
I'm reminded a bit of the engineering challenges of the original "Star Wars" program during the Reagan administration. I recall an engineer being quoted as saying, "They're trying to solve 10 manhattan projects at once" in order to get the whole system working. Self driving autonomous cars that present a near 0 chance of failure based upon current environmental conditions (traffic/bad drivers/weather/etc..) is a huge challenge.

breitling 9y ago

"...and were hired by the startup in piecemeal fashion in recent months, the people said" The time line is unclear, but they did not all leave at once apparently.

finkin1 9y ago
Right, but it still could have been a coordinated leave, which in my opinion would be a pretty strong signal that Apple is having problems with self driving technologies. I just don't get why the author wouldn't have been more explicit about if his impression was that it was a coordinated leave.

dep_b 9y ago

Probably with one or more ex-Apple employees hired the poaching goes so much easier.