'Apple Car' Project Lead Steve Zadesky to Leave Apple

[ToroidalZeus]

The consumer car sales industry right now is very unApple like. Think of how many components in a car are shared and standardized, and how many must be this way due to various regulations. Apple using off-the-shelf tires, for example, seems very unApple like to me. Also, unless Tesla succeeds at taking down the dealerships, I doubt Apple would be willing to start franchised dealers for their cars. Overall, I think there is a lot in that industry that is unApple like as it is, and thus Apple wouldn't get into it at that level. Plus, there's more money in developing the tech and working with partners.

I'm a mechanic.

You mentioned 2 important aspects of building a car. Parts and Regulations. On the part side there isn't any difference between sourcing seats and tires for your cars and sourcing cpus and camers for your smartphone. Likewise the regulation side is very similar as well (in America it's FCC for smartphones and DOT for cars).

You are correct that the dealership issue needs to be addressed and that is an issue.

Franchising? Apple does not franchise Apple stores so I can't imagine it would want to start franchsing dealerships.

Does Apple really need to make a car? I mean, it already feels like Apple is starting to spread itself a bit too thin trying to everything under the sun. They need to take some steps back and improve their existing products (especially iOS and OS X).

Yes. IMO product lines like the Apple Watch are mistakes. Smartcars are the future tho. Electric Vehicles and Self-Driving cars will be the next big leap, like the iPod to iPhone leap. If Apple doesn't position itself in that market then it'll fall behind hard in terms of innovation.

 

[flux73]

I find it sort of dubious that Apple plans to release an actual car. For the same reasons I don't think they will ever release a full television set. I'm sure Apple has a television set or two in their labs, but it probably only exists for concept development purposes. So yeah, they're probably making a car, but just for developing their Car OS (or whatever the future iteration of CarPlay ends up being).

 

[Rogifan]

I agree but Apple is a consumer electronics brand, not a car manufacturer.

and cars are becoming computers on wheels.

I find it sort of dubious that Apple plans to release an actual car. For the same reasons I don't think they will ever release a full television set. I'm sure Apple has a television set or two in their labs, but it probably only exists for concept development purposes. So yeah, they're probably making a car, but just for developing their Car OS (or whatever the future iteration of CarPlay ends up being).

And where is this 'car OS' going to go? Who's going to use it? Do you think BMW is going to want the same 'car OS' as Mercedes, Audi, GM, Ford, etc? Also there's a lot more to car electronics than the 'infotainment' system. It's impossible to develop that independent of the vehicle. I doubt Apple would need 1,000 engineers working on advanced CarPlay.

 

[Black Belt]

Typical rumor report - one person leaving company - Disaster! Apple is done for!

 

[oliversl]

Aaaaaaaand, no car for you!

 

[robbyx]

Yes. IMO product lines like the Apple Watch are mistakes. Smartcars are the future tho. Electric Vehicles and Self-Driving cars will be the next big leap, like the iPod to iPhone leap. If Apple doesn't position itself in that market then it'll fall behind hard in terms of innovation.

While you are no doubt correct that "smart cars" are the future, why does Apple need to position itself in that market over other emerging markets? Why not go after virtual reality? That'll be huge too. Should Microsoft make a car too, or risk falling behind? I'm not wild about the Apple Watch, but wearables makes a lot more sense to me than building a car. At least it's in Apple's wheelhouse.

I have a very hard time imagining how Apple will be successful as car manufacturer. Service alone will be a huge issue. Will they build service centers next to Apple Stores? It seems to me that a lot of people (including people at Apple) believe that, because Apple is a well-respected brand, anything they do will somehow magically "disrupt" the market and be successful. In reality, Apple's recent successes were quite hard fought. It took Jobs several decades before the stars aligned and he was able to turn Apple into what we know today. And he's gone now. In my mind the car business would be a "bet the farm" type of move by Cook.

 

[PlutoPrime]

But that would be unusual for Apple. They like owning the entire widget / experience.

They may see it as they see the bands in relation to the watch. I don't think Apple believes they can do electric, or body design substantially better than other companies. They do think they can disrupt the computing, and interfacing with the computer however. We've seen them do this with the TV as well. Why get into the LCD business when you can simply supply the computer for the dumb LCD.

 

[bbbb4b]

Still looking for a shred of evidence that this guy had any involvement with some kind of "Apple car" project at all.
He certainly was not hired by Apple to work on any car project 16 years ago. And I sure as hell know he is not the only Apple designer / engineer, etc. to have a background in the auto industry who has been hired by Apple over the years.

 

[ToroidalZeus]

While you are no doubt correct that "smart cars" are the future, why does Apple need to position itself in that market over other emerging markets? Why not go after virtual reality? That'll be huge too. Should Microsoft make a car too, or risk falling behind? I'm not wild about the Apple Watch, but wearables makes a lot more sense to me than building a car. At least it's in Apple's wheelhouse.

I have a very hard time imagining how Apple will be successful as car manufacturer. Service alone will be a huge issue. Will they build service centers next to Apple Stores? It seems to me that a lot of people (including people at Apple) believe that, because Apple is a well-respected brand, anything they do will somehow magically "disrupt" the market and be successful. In reality, Apple's recent successes were quite hard fought. It took Jobs several decades before the stars aligned and he was able to turn Apple into what we know today. And he's gone now. In my mind the car business is a "bet the farm" type of move by Cook.

You gotta be a visionary man. Apple getting into the car market mirrors Apple getting into the cell phone market.

Wearables have been proven to be a gimmick, they are dead in the water. VR right now appears to be a niche gaming product. Facebook hopes VR will be as mainstream as smartphones however MS/Sony have both been trying to convert gaming consoles into multimedia devices for the last decade with no success. No ApplePC (not even the Mac Pro) is powerful enough for VR and so Apple would have to develop a primary Windows device; no sense.

Like the poster above said. Cars are turning into computers on wheels. Nvidia is developing new car CPUs for self-driving vehicles. It makes perfect sense that Apple would come in and reinvent the car. Service? Sure that is an issue but it's an issue on smartphones too aka genuis bar so that's a moot point. Furthermore electric vehicles have much less service than traditional gasoline counterparts. It didn't take Jobs decades to reinvest the cell phone. He saw the technology and realized it's application and within 3 years they had the iPhone.

 

[PlutoPrime]

Yes. IMO product lines like the Apple Watch are mistakes.

The apple watch is not a mistake. The apple watch is not a watch. It's the iPhone in 5 years. This is not the first time Apple has done this. It's different with a different category of product, but in 5 years the watch will be the phone. It takes releasing watch 1.0 to get to 5.0.

 

[ToroidalZeus]

The apple watch is not a mistake. The apple watch is not a watch. It's the iPhone in 5 years. This is not the first time Apple has done this. It's different with a different category of product, but in 5 years the watch will be the phone. It takes releasing watch 1.0 to get to 5.0.

nope. battery technology too weak. small screen that most people won't want over a true phone.

 

[camnchar]

Hopefully in the next 5 years Apple will find some reason for me to purchase a watch. Who knows what will happen with the iCar.

 

[Junipr]

How about MR waits for a confirmation from Apple before pushing that headline?

There's another site that does that already: confirmed-mac-facts.net.org

 

[lincolntran]

nope. battery technology too weak. small screen that most people won't want over a true phone.

You're assuming battery will stand still in the next 5 years. You're assuming in the next 5 years and display technology is still the same. VR, 3D projections are all coming soon.

 

[ToroidalZeus]

You're assuming battery will stand still in the next 5 years. You're assuming in the next 5 years and display technology is still the same. VR, 3D projections are all coming soon.

Battery technology has almost not advanced in the last 7 years. Apple Watch as a 200mAh battery, iPhone 6S is 1700. We'd need battery technology to improve by 8.5X to get the same level of performance. (and if that did happen, the iPhone would have a 1 week battery life and everyone would want that instead).

 

[Deuce on the Clock]

Let the mass departures begin....

 

[Lacasse]

But that would be unusual for Apple. They like owning the entire widget / experience.

Yes, but I think they're moving into next gen Apple. They are creating a new os for cars, a new standard for automobile systems communication like OBDII, but completely part of the IoT. They will license the OS like Microsoft has in the computer industry for decades.

 

[Deuce on the Clock]

With all of these IOS and OS glitches, Let us pray Apple does NOT make a driver less car.

 

[997440]

nope. battery technology too weak. small screen that most people won't want over a true phone.

You're assuming battery will stand still in the next 5 years. You're assuming in the next 5 years and display technology is still the same. VR, 3D projections are all coming soon.

It's early yet, not sure how early --

...With so much power, the batteries could enable sensors or radio signals that broadcast 30 times farther, or devices 30 times smaller. The batteries are rechargeable and can charge 1,000 times faster than competing technologies - imagine juicing up a credit-card-thin phone in less than a second. In addition to consumer electronics, medical devices, lasers, sensors and other applications could see leaps forward in technology with such power sources available.

"Any kind of electronic device is limited by the size of the battery - until now," King said. "Consider personal medical devices and implants, where the battery is an enormous brick, and it's connected to itty-bitty electronics and tiny wires. Now the battery is also tiny."...

https://news.illinois.edu/blog/view/6367/204839

Technical article :

High-power lithium ion microbatteries from interdigitated three-dimensional bicontinuous nanoporous electrodes

 

[firewood]

nope. ... small screen that most people won't want over a true phone.

"true phone"? Like rotary dial desk phones? Or the Tommorowland picture phones of 50 years ago? Yup, people don't want those. Neither will they want today's ancient technology in the shape of an iPhone 6s in the future. Those will be in grandpa's (that's you!) attic.

 

[Lacasse]

You gotta be a visionary man. Apple getting into the car market mirrors Apple getting into the cell phone market.

Wearables have been proven to be a gimmick, they are dead in the water. VR right now appears to be a niche gaming product. Facebook hopes VR will be as mainstream as smartphones however MS/Sony have both been trying to convert gaming consoles into multimedia devices for the last decade with no success. No ApplePC (not even the Mac Pro) is powerful enough for VR and so Apple would have to develop a primary Windows device; no sense.

Like the poster above said. Cars are turning into computers on wheels. Nvidia is developing new car CPUs for self-driving vehicles. It makes perfect sense that Apple would come in and reinvent the car. Service? Sure that is an issue but it's an issue on smartphones too aka genuis bar so that's a moot point. Furthermore electric vehicles have much less service than traditional gasoline counterparts. It didn't take Jobs decades to reinvest the cell phone. He saw the technology and realized it's application and within 3 years they had the iPhone.

Apple doesn't manufacture phones either. Foxconn manufactures phones. Apple makes the OS and determines the specs. Samsung and Foxconn and pegatron make phones and computers for Apple.

I think that in this instance Apple is creating a business to business product...a car os, and will license to the highest bidder.

 

[Soccertess]

I would laugh so hard if he goes to Tesla

But the car industry needs a good shake up.

 

[Deuce on the Clock]

Especially since Apple's quality of software has declined immensely in recent years

Their software and QA testing has been a joke for the last 5 years and its getting worse. Be scared if they supply the software experience. All you'll get from Apple is "you're driving it wrong"

 

[Rogifan]

Apple doesn't manufacture phones either. Foxconn manufactures phones. Apple makes the OS and determines the specs. Samsung and Foxconn and pegatron make phones and computers for Apple.

I think that in this instance Apple is creating a business to business product...a car os, and will license to the highest bidder.

When has Apple ever successfully licensed software to somebody else to put in their hardware? The Mac clones were a disaster. As was the Motorola ROKR. The guy allegedly running this project was a hardware engineer. If this was just about a car OS why would Apple put a mechanical engineer in charge of it?

Anyway Tony Fadell tweeted that this would be a huge loss for Apple so I take that as a sign this rumor is true. From Fadell's tweet it sounds like he worked with this guy when he was at Apple.

 

[Lacasse]

When has Apple ever successfully licensed software to somebody else to put in their hardware? The Mac clones were a disaster. As was the Motorola ROKR. The guy allegedly running this project was a hardware engineer. If this was just about a car OS why would Apple put a mechanical engineer in charge of it?

Anyway Tony Fadell tweeted that this would be a huge loss for Apple so I take that as a sign this rumor is true. From Fadell's tweet it sounds like he worked with this guy when he was at Apple.

True. Well, they still won't manufacture a car, they could develop what they need and have the car built to spec by a smaller car manufacturer., as they do with everything else?