Apple’s self-driving car program left a legacy of powerful AI chips

Apple’s self-driving car program he never really went downbut perhaps that’s what made the company’s chips the powerful AI players they are. Early in the development of the self-driving platform, Apple realized that it would be needed dynamic processing on AI devices. When the car processor was I couldn’tas Mark Gurman explains in his latest article Turn it on in correspondence, it led to the Neural Engine, the backbone of Apple’s on-device AI processing.

Neural Engine started with its machine iPhone X and A11 Bionic. In the early days, it was used primarily for computer vision, powering FaceID, Animoji, and virtual reality experiences. But in laying the groundwork for AI on devices, Apple established itself as an early leader by bringing the Neural Engine to desktops and M-series chips. While Apple’s AI efforts have lagged behind the rest of the industry, its tools have been impressive. It is what has allowed Apple to show its privacy, since less data is sent to the cloud.

Apple is making its AI tools the cornerstone of its strategy going forward. According to Gurman, the company is skipping Pro, Max, and Ultra models of its upcoming M6 device. Instead, it is accelerating the development of the M7, which should arrive in the first half of 2027 with a major upgrade of the Neural Engine. The M7 Ultra is expected to be the basis of Apple’s new server as well, with support for 1.5TB of RAM.