Apple’s self-driving system and/or car project has been in the news again recently. Last month, Bloomberg reported that the company was hoping to start production by as early as 2024. But this week, projections were revised and we’re probably looking at least 5 years. The details are pretty limited at this stage, as is typical of Apple (although Hyundai has been saying things). It’s also not clear whether the company is set on developing both an electric vehicle and a self-driving system, or just the latter. But the company has been hiring lots of engineers to work on the project, including a bunch of ex-Tesla employees. Supposedly, Apple now has “several hundred engineers” working on this initiative, most of whom are focused on the self-driving system part. Who really knows how and when this all unfolds, but I would bet that software is going to continue eating the world.
BRANDON DONNELLY 
I wish I could be enthused by self-driving cars. I’m sure if Apple design one it will look good, but the pandemic has already dealt a near death-blow to public transport, with revenue plummeting as either people aren’t going to work (or anywhere else) or if they have to, then being unwilling to share space. Maybe it’s only in major centres of capital that public transport users will be in the market for a slick self-driving car instead, but anything that allows people who don’t or can’t otherwise drive, to be on the roads, is bad news for the planet generally. Any car can contribute to congestion, and the pollution that comes from tyre wear and road wear if not from diesel fuel. And the energy taken by manufacture and distribution – and that’s before we get to accidents.
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