Apple 'Reboots' Self-Driving Car Initiative Amid Project Layoffs and Closures

[SBlue1]

Apple Car. A new version every year.

 

[coolfactor]

After iPhone 7 and crapple watch, I don't know how much I believe in Apple anymore.

I can't believe you got 12+ likes for this comment — Why? What's wrong with the iPhone 7? Is your beef all about the single Lightning port, and the headphone/charging situation? Are you completely ignoring the other tech that's packed into that amazing "fastest-in-the-world" smartphone? And the Apple Watch... what were you hoping for? A round screen? Month-long battery life? Tech evolves.... if it was possible to give you a month-long battery, it would be there. It's just not possible.
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Shut it down and concentrate on the core business that once made you the greatest.
This is like McDonalds going into house building.

The news that they've switched from building a car to building just the tech that can go into a car shows that they have some wisdom about the project. It's not an all-or-nothing problem... they need to find their best fit, and tech is definitely that. The auto industry is better for it, because Apple will raise the bar on user experience, whether they release any products or not.

 

[Reds622]

Spot on. Must also add there were cultural factors in technology when Jobs was at the helm yet he seemed less concerned with appealing to all demographics and establishing a fashion brand. He believed if you design a great product it will sell itself as opposed to developing products for profits sake. CEO's think solely in terms of profit and market growth, which has almost always proved short-sighted, leading to failure as a strong company that grows too fast without a truly solid product and market base will falter in the end. It's very similar to the startup mindset in Silicon Valley; most aren't concerned with developing a passionate product or service for the long-term. It's a "shake-n-bake" system based on short-term thinking - create something in a few months and pitch it to the highest bidder, rinse and repeat.

Cook is operating Apple in this similar mindset that many CEO's before have done with the false sense of security based on their current status and success. Yet such short sightedness and focus on growth lacks the vision outside their singular strengths and almost always backfires. The time frame may differ between corporations (differing factors such as market strength, stock value, market saturation, etc), but it always leads to the same road.

Jobs was less concerned about profit and more about making something unique, whether it was perfecting already existing technologies or developing new systems. He was headstrong, difficult, a perfectionist, narcissistic, and I'm certain more but it was never personal, it was his passion. When he passed many questioned Apple's future, alarmists especially yet many cautioned for more reason. It's becoming clearer that Jobs was the heart of Apple. Technology is a rapidly growing and morphing industry that requires someone who can look at the bigger picture as it evolves, see what others don't, and react quickly and appropriately. A road-plan won't last beyond a few months and Cook knows it. He's throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks instead of focusing on a specific target.

You know, I don't think I could have said it better myself.

Further to your point, we have seen Cook institute a dividend, has met with Carl Icahn (the worst kind of corporate raider), even make his presence felt on cess pool type programing Jim Cramer. All bending to the whims of the market. Chasing short term increases in stock price. Concerned with what "wall street" thinks the value of Apple should be. Steve Jobs, my opinion anyways (I didn't know the man), understood that the market played a role in the future of Apple, but it was always everyday consumers that was the future. Traders ultimately move money around, and capitalize on what is popular/strong with the masses.

What is concerning is this has been going on for a few years now, and yet, the shift continues. In fact, we are now seeing Apple get more and more cozy with China, a country whose "values" are surely not the same, all in an attempt at increasing short term corporate profits. Cook thinks emerging markets will lead to more growth, and more short term profit. The long term horizon has become secondary to the chase of easy profit, be damned the impact down the road.

 

[ssgbryan]

You know, I don't think I could have said it better myself.

Further to your point, we have seen Cook institute a dividend, has met with Carl Icahn (the worst kind of corporate raider), even make his presence felt on cess pool type programing Jim Cramer. All bending to the whims of the market. Chasing short term increases in stock price. Concerned with what "wall street" thinks the value of Apple should be. Steve Jobs, my opinion anyways (I didn't know the man), understood that the market played a role in the future of Apple, but it was always everyday consumers that was the future. Traders ultimately move money around, and capitalize on what is popular/strong with the masses.

What is concerning is this has been going on for a few years now, and yet, the shift continues. In fact, we are now seeing Apple get more and more cozy with China, a country whose "values" are surely not the same, all in an attempt at increasing short term corporate profits. Cook thinks emerging markets will lead to more growth, and more short term profit. The long term horizon has become secondary to the chase of easy profit, be damned the impact down the road.

As far as the dividend Apple should pay it, it's either pay out the dividend or pay taxes on the cash pile (and we all know how Timmy doesn't like to pay taxes).

Day 91 does not exist in the mind of a CEO.

 

[jasonklee]

Apple stopped being a computer company in 2001 after the stupid iPod. Never again.

 

[Reds622]

As far as the dividend Apple should pay it, it's either pay out the dividend or pay taxes on the cash pile (and we all know how Timmy doesn't like to pay taxes).

Day 91 does not exist in the mind of a CEO.

For most CEO's, perhaps I would agree. But as the CEO of Apple, I don't think the normal rules would apply.. Especially after the way Steve Jobs ran the company. Why would their be chatter of an ouster if he just continued the path of Jobs, perhaps one of the greatest CEO's the world has ever seen? He has taken the opposite approach.. Regarding the implementation of a dividend.. He better hope that corporate tax reform gets done next year, and another special "tax holiday" is included for these giant multi-nationals, because otherwise the tax hit is coming down the road, unless he plans on just keeping those massive profits overseas indefinitely, which I suppose is probably the most likely scenario if these multi-nationals don't get another sweetheart of a deal.

 

[doelcm82]

I don't understand how you can have self driving cars on the same roads as everyone else. Maybe a dedicated highway lane would work ok. But if anyone thinks they can get into a car and let it drive them to work...that sounds like a fantasy.

Seventeen-year-old humans drive cars on the same roads as everyone else. A fair percentage of them make it to eighteen. It's not difficult to imagine self driving cars doing better.

 

[Tycho24]

Apple Car. A new version every year.

Every car. A new version every year.

Lol, one of us is VERY confused.
Either, every single car manufacturer makes a new version of every single model that they make, each year- and have for many, many years.... making your comment so nonsensical it boggles the mind.
Or, I've imagined that- & literally have no idea what's real.

 

[Costino1]

Apple stopped being a computer company in 2001 after the stupid iPod. Never again.

The iPod put apple on the map and was the precursor to the iPhone which is their driving force to revenue/profits.

Revolutionized the way we listen to music, store music, and purchase music.

Don't think that it's too stupid.

 

[ssgbryan]

Every car. A new version every year.

Lol, one of us is VERY confused.
Either, every single car manufacturer makes a new version of every single model that they make, each year- and have for many, many years.... making your comment so nonsensical it boggles the mind.
Or, I've imagined that- & literally have no idea what's real.

No, they don't. Every 2 or 3 years they will reskin a vehicle - they only redesign every decade or so. As an example - the Corvette has been redesigned 6 times since the 1st generation rolled out in 1953.

 

[petsounds]

Mansfield was given oversight to do a nuts-to-bolts review and he did just that...and didn't take him long to determine that building a self-driving car was a bottomless money pit without knowing how much top-cover Congress was going to provide on the liability issues.

When he laid out the true costs involved, Cook moved quickly to scale things back...more in line with the company's core competencies.

Liabilities for what, autonomous driving? Audi's new A8 will have an autopilot mode and if the rumors are true, they'll be taking on all liability for accidents in this mode. If Audi can handle liability claims, certainly Apple has the deep pockets to.

 

[IJ Reilly]

Apple Car. A new version every year.

A new and contradictory rumor every week.
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As far as the dividend Apple should pay it, it's either pay out the dividend or pay taxes on the cash pile (and we all know how Timmy doesn't like to pay taxes).

Day 91 does not exist in the mind of a CEO.

The cash is accumulated retained earnings. They've paid taxes on it already.

 

[AZREOSpecialist]

What tech, pray tell, can Apple provide to companies like BMW and others that they either don't already have or can develop themselves? Those companies are all on track to produce autonomous vehicles. This is just an example of Tim Cook's creative bankruptcy. His solution to "innovation" is to throw money at "the car thing" hoping that something comes out of it. Look at what he's doing - he's delegating to Mansfield. My god Mr. Cook, where is YOUR passion and ideation? This is where Apple has lost its way. Nobody at the top cares anymore. There is no single person in control who can say this is good, this is bad, and this is crap. It's all by committee now and it shows.

 

[Cole Slaw]

I'm not so sure how well a $75000 made in China car with a one year warranty (extendable to two years for $10000 extra) would sell, anyway.

 

[Bone Ranger]

It's hard to imagine any car company using Apple's potential future automous technology to control their vehicle.
It's one thing to incorporate CarPlay entertainment in a car, quite another to give the keys to the car to Apple. I can never see this happening.

Car companies as we know them wont be as influential.
People will be designing their own cars and 3D printing them, then download the APPLE CAR OS app.

 

[tardegrade]

Shut it down and concentrate on the core business that once made you the greatest.
This is like McDonalds going into house building.

You realise that you are saying the exact same thing that people were saying in 2006 about Apple getting into the Mobile Phone business. At that time a lot of seasoned observers didn't give Apple a hope in hell of making and selling phones. It hasn't turned out so bad.

 

[Bone Ranger]

What tech, pray tell, can Apple provide to companies like BMW and others that they either don't already have or can develop themselves? Those companies are all on track to produce autonomous vehicles. This is just an example of Tim Cook's creative bankruptcy. His solution to "innovation" is to throw money at "the car thing" hoping that something comes out of it. Look at what he's doing - he's delegating to Mansfield. My god Mr. Cook, where is YOUR passion and ideation? This is where Apple has lost its way. Nobody at the top cares anymore. There is no single person in control who can say this is good, this is bad, and this is crap. It's all by committee now and it shows.

Really? You think the Apple Management & Board are slackers?
They threw $10 billion into R&D last year. Bob Mansfield had been off the radar for a few years...Marc Newsom was hired and is doing what? Jony mysteriously changed positions, supposedly working on the Campus. Something big is happening.

 

[Bubba Satori]

Really? You think the Apple Management & Board are slackers?
They threw $10 billion into R&D last year. Bob Mansfield had been off the radar for a few years...Marc Newsom was hired and is doing what? Jony mysteriously changed positions, supposedly working on the Campus. Something big is happening.

Jony cracked the toilet.
Your **** won't stink anymore.
Has to use $10 a roll Apple toilet paper.
Need to use an adapter if you want to p*** in it.

 

[Tycho24]

It's hard to imagine any car company using Apple's potential future automous technology to control their vehicle.
It's one thing to incorporate CarPlay entertainment in a car, quite another to give the keys to the car to Apple. I can never see this happening.

I imagine a company like Uber in a three way partnership with Apple & a car company; where the car company produces the fleet, Apple writes the software, and Uber handles providing the infrastructure.

 

[Costino1]

You realise that you are saying the exact same thing that people were saying in 2006 about Apple getting into the Mobile Phone business. At that time a lot of seasoned observers didn't give Apple a hope in hell of making and selling phones. It hasn't turned out so bad.

Hm wow. This makes the most sense out of everything I heard all weekend.

AT&T took a stab at them first I remember. Phone wasn't even subsidized and you had to pay full price I believe.

Looks like it worked out for Apple (and the carriers)

 

[Macist]

'1000' people sounds like far too many working on a single car. I expect many were just twiddling their thumbs or didn't have anything to bring to the party over and above dozens of others. Perhaps all that's happened is that Apple, out of that vast recruitment drive, now has a streamlined, focused team all working to clear objectives.

 

[AxoNeuron]

The fact that they ever thought that an Apple branded car was a good idea is scary enough...

 

[doelcm82]

No, they don't. Every 2 or 3 years they will reskin a vehicle - they only redesign every decade or so. As an example - the Corvette has been redesigned 6 times since the 1st generation rolled out in 1953.

Apple fans and those posing as them would be livid if Apple released cars like that:

The Apple Coupe 3 looks too much like the Apple Coupe 2s did last year! They should have called it the Apple Coupe 2se or something.

It's been 480 days since we've see ANY update in the Apple Sedan. Apparently Apple doesn't care about the sedan market any more.

Why can't I get all the towing capacity of the Apple Stretch SUV in an Apple Subcompact? Just because I prefer a smaller car doesn't mean I don't sometimes need to haul a 26-foot boat to the lake. It's not fair that Apple makes us upgrade to the 8-passenger version to get all the features.

I'm not buying Apple hardware any more until they release something with a dedicated off-road coprocessor. I'm thinking of building a hackmobile.

 

[Artimus12]

Has anyone considered that Apple could take the initiative and rather than design a car or its software, they might be thinking more in terms of street Architecture? After all, if the cars of tomorrow are self-driving, it follows that new Roadside kit will be needed to monitor where every vehicle is in relation to others, in order to prevent accidents when individual car systems malfunction or manual car drivers fall asleep at the wheel ...right?

It would make more sense for a company the size of Apple to look at the possibility of a Government sized project with Government sized profits, rather than the small beans of supplying software for car manufacturers.

p.s: just in case they hadn't thought of it; this idea is almost copyrighted - you're on your honour not to steal it ...I'm looking at you, Google.

 

[Zirel]

I guess computer company may not be the most natural place for developing cars.

Because the traditional car companies have been doing a GREAT job for electric cars.