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Apple Allegedly Discussing Apple Car With Automotive Suppliers, TSMC Working on 'Self-Driving' Chips

Is it just me or does anyone else kinda not like this? It seems like Apple is branching into so many areas that aren't "core" to what they used to be so good at. I know times change and Apple has incredible financial and engineering resources, but it seems like none of their recent endeavors ever quite get finished. I buy just about everything Apple comes out with so I have first-hand knowledge. iCloud Drive has never synced reliably across all my devices. I often have to save a random file to force a sync. My AirPods Pro don't connect about a third of the time I put them in my ears. I have to remove and try again. Siri is still a mess. Although I own four Homepods, I don't think they have the audio quality they should for the price. Then there was several years of the inferior butterfly keyboards. I guess I'm just becoming an old fart who doesn't want change, LOL. Just seems like going into the car business will suck up money and resources that I wish they would devote to "finishing" their existing products.
 
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Theyayarealivin said:
Can't wait to pre-order new Apple Car. Apple I'm ready to hand you my hard earned American Dollars.

Tim Cook is only going to get richer.

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Four words: transport as a service. You might never buy an Apple car; in stead you upgrade to the Apple Two service tier. Plan your trip in Apple Maps, set the required arrival time, wait for the car and that’s it. You might watch some Apple TV show on the way on your Apple Glasses.

Remember the one billion dollar investment in Lyft from 4 years ago?
 
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truthertech said:
Apple has never been interested in or involved with supplying components to other manufacturers and there is zero chance they are spending billions to join the myriad of companies building auto components to sell to companies.
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I agree with your statements, historically, but Apple now offers services (TV+, Fitness to name a few) that no-one would have thought of Apple offering 5 years ago ...

IF Apple were going to make their own car, it would be electric, if you look at some of the new(er) players in that space, Rivian, Canoo, Fisker, Lucid come to mind, they are way ahead and already have or will have offerings available net year. Every traditional car manufacturer is on that bandwagon right now. That industry is going to reshape itself over the net 10 years, and it is going to be a hard fight/battle ... Apple would be a late addition, sure they have always improved and not necessarily be first, but 2024/5 is way late ...

Tesla is years ahead of everyone ... Look how long it took Tesla to get where they are today. Tesla can build a new factory in 12 months now ... Apple has always used OEMs for manufacturing, I don't know of an OEM that builds cars. Apple does not have a dealer network (for service/repair ... they could still sell at an apple store) ...
There are significant regulatory requirements that Apple is not accustomed to ...

I cannot see Apple going that way, so what are they dong in that space? The best I can think of right now, it's a new service that includes autonomous driving ...
 
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I have a feeling that MacRumors readership will drop precipitously once their readers get their self-driving Apple cars.

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This is not happening. Digitimes has a very mixed track record and this doesn't make any sense for
Apple. The car industry is very hard to break into- Tesla almost went bankrupt- and Apple is way behind others like Waymo, Cruise and others in autonomy. Tesla is already the "Apple" of cars- verical integration, hardware+software integration, ecosystem (charging stations), charismatic CEO and cult following... what would Apple bring to the table that Tesla doesn't already offer? We know Apple is exploring autonomy- like all of Big Tech- but I don't think they're releasing their own Model S. On the other hand, licensing out a carOS to OEMs is really not their speed so I have no idea where they are going with this. But I don't think they are going to just release an autonomous EV in 2025 and manufacture it with no issues and own the market.
 
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I’m enjoying the extremely buggy M1 with nothing working properly. So, word of wisdom: do not buy 1st generation. Apple can’t release a product without half a dozen bugs.
 
huge_apple_fangirl said:
This is not happening. Digitimes has a very mixed track record and this doesn't make any sense for
Apple. The car industry is very hard to break into- Tesla almost went bankrupt- and Apple is way behind others like Waymo, Cruise and others in autonomy. Tesla is already the "Apple" of cars- verical integration, hardware+software integration, ecosystem (charging stations), charismatic CEO and cult following... what would Apple bring to the table that Tesla doesn't already offer? We know Apple is exploring autonomy- like all of Big Tech- but I don't think they're releasing their own Model S. On the other hand, licensing out a carOS to OEMs is really not their speed so I have no idea where they are going with this. But I don't think they are going to just release an autonomous EV in 2025 and manufacture it with no issues and own the market.
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Except you forgot one thing. Apple doesn’t manufacture anything. Foxconn makes everything for Apple. The Chinese are already making EVs that rival Tesla. Apple will buy one of those Chinese companies and outsource the manufacturing to Foxconn.

The Apple Car will be made in China and designed in China. Apple will supply autonomous driving tech. Apple doesn’t need to “break into” the automotive world. Those Chinese companies have already done so.
 
sirozha said:
Except you forgot one thing. Apple doesn’t manufacture anything. Foxconn makes everything for Apple. The Chinese are already making EVs that rival Tesla. Apple will buy one of those Chinese companies and outsource the ma manufacturing to Foxconn.

The Apple Car will be made in China and designed in China. Apple will supply autonomous driving tech. Apple doesn’t need to “break into” the automotive world. Those Chinese companies have already done so.
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Which company will they outsource too? Apple has very high standards. I don’t know if some random Chinese company will cut it. And even if that works in China, what about the rest of the world? The US (and probably some other countries) have tariffs on imported cars to encourage local manufacturing. Apple can’t just make everything in China. And what about infrastructure? Apple has no supercharger network. They don’t have exceptions from state laws about selling in a dealership. They know nothing about selling and making cars. If you want an Apple-like car experience, buy a Tesla.
 
I'm still of the belief that Apple is working on the technology to incorporate into vehicles. Sort of like Blackberry with QNX Software (iCarOS or w/e Apple will call it) + Several Apple hardware devices that will be incorporated by manufacturers. Apple has the money to jump in, but I think there would have been more leaks of the design and manufacturing dies, partners, etc. of a full on vehicle.
 
huge_apple_fangirl said:
Which company will they outsource too? Apple has very high standards. I don’t know if some random Chinese company will cut it. And even if that works in China, what about the rest of the world? The US (and probably some other countries) have tariffs on imported cars to encourage local manufacturing. Apple can’t just make everything in China. And what about infrastructure? Apple has no supercharger network. They don’t have exceptions from state laws about selling in a dealership. They know nothing about selling and making cars. If you want an Apple-like car experience, buy a Tesla.
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For environmental reasons the Apple care will be recharged using the 12W charger that you already own.
 
ryanflanders256 said:
I wonder if Apple is working on a self-driving premium option, similar to Tesla's full autopilot option. If so, it would require close collaboration with auto makers, which would make it harder to keep secret.

If they are, they'd probably also have the ability to sell a universal "bolt on" option for most newer vehicles, but given Apple's design aesthetic I'm not sure if we'll ever see that.
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The auto manufacturer's are also working on this. They saw what happened to the music industry and the film industry. They are not going to let Apple into their business.
 
Tesla doesn't use CarPlay and sells a LTE subscription for $10 a month. Their UI has many of the features of a phone now. What's stopping Tesla from selling a mobile device. Apple is worried about competition.
 
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huge_apple_fangirl said:
And what about infrastructure? Apple has no supercharger network. They don’t have exceptions from state laws about selling in a dealership. They know nothing about selling and making cars. If you want an Apple-like car experience, buy a Tesla.
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Infrastructure: People seem to forgot that Tesla is not the only company building a charger network. Actually Tesla is the only company that is building an incompatible charger network while everyone else is establishing a different standard.

And to all the other arguments: I don't know how long you have been following Apple, but you sound exactly like the people in 2006 stating that Apple would "never" make a phone or be able to get into that market, because it's really competitive and hard to break into yadayadayada. The rest is history.
 
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MacBH928 said:
I am very skeptical of a self driving car, then again here I am using an interactive glass board that I use to talk to people on the other side of the planet completely wireless. Imagine a virus hitting the smartcar or being hacked but a terrorist group. They can wipe out a whole nation.

I don't think its a self driving car, I think maybe its more like a car OS that will be sold to car manufacturers to be installed in their cars like carplay. It will have super cool features but not self drive. Maybe stuff like adjusting speed based on upcoming traffic, auto park, auto brake...but I doubt I will ride my car hit a button and in 15min I will arrive to my work location.
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The AppleCar OS has no viruses. It's not Windows.
 
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