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If Apple really is getting into this, I would expect it to be ~5 years before they say anything about it.

But I don't see it happening. This sounds too much like the era when Apple didn't have Steve Jobs the first time, when they released dozens of products just trying to see what stuck.
Correct.
Greed & desperation will be Apple's downfall again, just like last time Steve was not part of Apple.
 
Bingo. This is the plan to leap from Google with a plug and play tech for self driving. This would allow them to control the smart drive space first. This will be cloned by Google there is no doubt and Google has way more vested into his space by Google is not pulling all the threads together yet to get a real world product. They have no clear idea how they are going to sell there tech. This is apple being Apple they are going to clone all the free tech on this topic apple it up and make it s product people will buy that is easy. I am not saying Google or audi will not get there they will but apple is going after ford and gm who have less self driving programs.

If anything, I would expect Apple is working on an "advanced" version of CarPlay... My thought is the iPhone could be the brains that allow the car to drive itself. The car could include cameras, sensors, etc. necessary for the iPhone software to work but the iPhone would do all the necessary thinking/decisions.

This would allow for cheap entry for all car manufacturers (i.e. ford, chevy, subaru, bmws, etc) to simply follow Apple's guidelines for including certain hardware but they wouldn't have to design anything else. Plug-and-play in a sense?
 
If I were a betting man, I'd put money on Apple making a play to push QNX out of the market.

From the FT story:

But people familiar with the company said the background of the people Apple is hiring — including automotive designers and vehicle dynamics engineers — and the seniority of the executives involved suggest a car could be in the works.

“Three months ago I would have said it was CarPlay,” said one person who has worked closely with Apple for many years, referring to Apple’s infotainment system. “Today I think it’s a car."

Why would Jony Ive's designers need to meet with automotive designers and engineers if they were just building CarPlay on steroids? And how does designing a better infotainment system blow Tesla out of the water? It sure seems like Apple (or whoever is leaking this stuff) wants people to think Apple is going beyond the dashboard. I suppose this could all be a head fake in the end. Or maybe Apple really is starting research here in a big way.
 
Really don't understand the draw.
Low margins. Government regulated warrantees. Long product hold times.
Sure they may come out with some tree hugging electric car that nobody wants (like Tesla) but it is hard to imagine given Apples move towards the consumer markets.
 
Apple Car owner: "I can't get in to my car. It keeps telling me my touch ID is invalid when I press my finger on the sensor."

Apple care: "Have you tried cleaning the touch ID sensor?"

Apple Car owner: "Yes."

Apple care: "Great. We'll send out a truck to pick you up in 1-3 days to have the car serviced."

Apple Car owner: "I'm currently stuck in the middle of a logging road on a hiking trail. I need to get out now."

Apple care: "I see you're car is over a year old and you did not purchase an extended Warranty. Since you are out of the one year warranty, we can dispatch AAA but it will cost you $1000 plus any materials."

Apple Car owner: "WHAT ??? !!!"
 
I think you have some valid points. However, Apple was not in the phone business either and look at them now.

Apple is a computer company. When they built the iPhone they built a small portable computer with integrated phone service. That's all. I really wouldn't say they are in the phone business now, that's AT&T, Verizon, etc.
 
Bring on the Car.
 

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Apple car comes with Apple Maps built-in. The car that will take you everywhere but the place you want to go!
 
At first, I thought it'll be just some types of new software platform but now I'm leaning toward an actual car... Think about it. Tesla has A LOT less resource and money than Apple but they're still able to make some pretty cool cars. In addition, there're not a lot of new market that Apple can break in to and make huge profits, no the tv market is a poor market for huge profits. The car industry, on the other hand, has great potentials, especially high end cars. With battery tech, Apple doesn't have to deal with combustion engine, make a clean car and totally connected to the Apple ecosystem. I think many will buy an Apple car. I think it will look a lot better than current car designs.

Apple wouldn't get into producing cars because they thought there was huge profits to be made there. They'd produce a car because they felt they could make a nicer car than all the competition. An electric car. I'd have to see this before I'd believe it.
 
Because consumers don't want electric cars.

That's bull-****. If electric cars were adorable and got better range many people would choose them. The are cost effective to charge and protect Mother Earth in the process. It's all but inevitable that all new cars sold are electric within the next 25 years. They're easier to maintain too; clearer; simpler internally.
 
From the FT story:







Why would Jony Ive's designers need to meet with automotive designers and engineers if they were just building CarPlay on steroids? And how does designing a better infotainment system blow Tesla out of the water? It sure seems like Apple (or whoever is leaking this stuff) wants people to think Apple is going beyond the dashboard. I suppose this could all be a head fake in the end. Or maybe Apple really is starting research here in a big way.


I suspect it's software driven relating to car dashboard technology and probably finding ways to improve traffic safety and navigation. It's mainly a research facility for car technology for R&D purposes. That's what I suspect.

Apple doesn't have the money or manufacturing capability to build cars. They can partner with other car manufacturers for their iOS driven products though.

And to make a car requires a professional industrial designer with experience in the automotive industry. Not Jony. He doesn't do cars since he specializes in electronics or furnishing design, from what I see.
 
Seriously, not much evidence they want to make cars

All they're going on here is a guess based on the type of people Apple hired recently for the project.

I don't think it's impossible that Apple would start selling cars, but seems highly unlikely. Tesla hasn't even navigated all of the legal battles necessary to allow them to do direct sales in all 50 states yet.

What I could see, however, is an Apple partnership with an auto-maker, to build a co-branded vehicle that offers a number of Apple specific features. (Sure, they can market "CarPlay" compatibility to all takers, but there's probably much more they could do with a specific make and model of car they were licensed to help design.)

Think, the new "Apple SRL-650, by Mercedes" or something.... Could have an iOS app just for it that gives you real-time status reporting when the car is in for service about what part(s) were replaced and when it will be ready for pickup. Pay for your service right inside the app and unlock the doors with the iPad or iPhone in proximity of it, etc. etc.
 
If anything, I would expect Apple is working on an "advanced" version of CarPlay... My thought is the iPhone could be the brains that allow the car to drive itself. The car could include cameras, sensors, etc. necessary for the iPhone software to work but the iPhone would do all the necessary thinking/decisions.

This would allow for cheap entry for all car manufacturers (i.e. ford, chevy, subaru, bmws, etc) to simply follow Apple's guidelines for including certain hardware but they wouldn't have to design anything else. Plug-and-play in a sense?

Right..because building a car it's the difficult part, not the self-drive car system
Sarcasm!
Well i think your are either worried that your $100.000 car will become obsolete or your worried that your precious cars companies like ford, bmw.. who didn't changed a thing in the last 100 years will go bankrupt and stop planet earth from dying
 
From the FT story:

Why would Jony Ive's designers need to meet with automotive designers and engineers if they were just building CarPlay on steroids? And how does designing a better infotainment system blow Tesla out of the water? It sure seems like Apple (or whoever is leaking this stuff) wants people to think Apple is going beyond the dashboard. I suppose this could all be a head fake in the end. Or maybe Apple really is starting research here in a big way.

I answered that in my follow-up post:
https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/20708966/

To answer the second part about Tesla, Tesla is making a major push into the automated driving sector with their Autopilot functionality. Apple providing a QNX replacement that can handle the sensors required for these features in a native way, making it easy for Tesla's competitors to enable the same kinds of features, would indeed be a major win.
 
I answered that in my follow-up post:
https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/20708966/

To answer the second part about Tesla, Tesla is making a major push into the automated driving sector with their Autopilot functionality. Apple providing a QNX replacement that can handle the sensors required for these features in a native way, making it easy for Tesla's competitors to enable the same kinds of features, would indeed be a major win.

That's enirely possible, however the person quoted in FT's story said 3 months ago they thought CarPlay, now they think an actual car. Of course this could just be a massive head fake on Apple's part.
 
I answered that in my follow-up post:
https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/20708966/

To answer the second part about Tesla, Tesla is making a major push into the automated driving sector with their Autopilot functionality. Apple providing a QNX replacement that can handle the sensors required for these features in a native way, making it easy for Tesla's competitors to enable the same kinds of features, would indeed be a major win.

Sure would. Wouldn't it? Might even irritate Elon a bit,eh? :apple:
 
Sure

Yeah, love to have an Apple iCar, 4 times as expensive as a Tesla and 2 generations behind on technology, but at least you can turn it on with your fingerprint. Who cares if the car will randomly drive into a wall from time to time because of a poor iCar OS rollout and crappy maps app, but Apple will just shrug it off because there is still a long line of hipsters waiting to buy a new one after sending their previous generation iCar to drive itself to the landfill.
 
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