Apple Reportedly Running Secret Car Lab in German Capital

[kevinkyoo]

They're disposable. They don't bring any exceptional talent to the table.

Oof, straight to the point

 

[Bubba Satori]

I don't get what drives Bono.

An army of English chauffeurs.
He's worth a billion quid.

 

[kyleh22]

Sounds reasonable, what otherwise they should do with their billions.

Increase their dividend or even better, bid on unused wireless spectrums so they can cut ties with wireless providers.

 

[Mac 128]

Risk-taking has never been part of the German culture.
Everybody likes to have the old Kaiser back (the are even now rebuilding his City Palace in Berlin) and by now every large tech company is run by a bean-counter...

You mean like the risk of Volkswagon not engaging in mass conspiracy and fraud with their diesel vehicles to cheat the emissions requirements of most nations? Proclaiming the electric vehicle doomed and diesel the way of the future until they got caught and then reversing their position 100%?

Yeah, those Germas always playing it safe ... /s

 

[smacrumon]

German culture is very different from Anglo-Saxon culture. If a British/American company is doing well, they attempt to expand and diversify, to get bigger ambitions about their place in the world. If a German company is doing well, they continue to do what they're doing while refining their processes, becoming the best in the world at each tiny, specialist role.

That's the German mittelstand. They are 99% of German companies and make up about 2/3 of exports. Some of them make a single part, like a particular screw used in railway engineering, or other very niche thing. And they're happy to sit there for generations and not really diversify.

I don't think it's possible to make sweeping statements about German culture. Because if we remember recently it was German brand Volkswagen in a scandal that covered up poor emissions in their vehicles. That's hardly refining processes and being the best in the world, it was an act of hiding the worst in the world.

 

[Gudi]

Never is a very long time!

Over half a century in failed AI research is also a very long time.​

How can we walk when our earth is turning?
How do we drive while our cars are burning?​

A properly designed AI car wouldn't trust you, either.

Before an AI can handle random situations it must be conscious of itself and the outside universe.​

Only then the AI is able to make its own reasonable decisions.

Let there be light!​

 

[ike1707]

Apple car still won't have any Windows though....

I see what you did there, you slyboots

 

[smacrumon]

What if the Apple Car isn't a car, but a service? Apple will provide autonomous car sharing. Call an Apple Car with Siri, share your routes through Apple Maps with the Car and pay with Apple Pay. People will stay within the Apple Universe and Apple will make money, without really building an own car for mass market.

I like your lateral thinking.

 

[jonnysods]

Man, the expectations on Apple for this are high.

 

[Thunderhawks]

Motor noises is publicity and a cover for real plans. Do we really think an Apple car will make motor noises? I say no.

Apple has big wheels to fill. The Tesla Model 3 is a revolution. Considering Apple's design track record of protruding cameras and antenna lines on its main iPad and iPhone products, I'm worried what an Apple car might end up being, but look forward in great anticipation. An Apple car will however need to leapfrog even Tesla's recent attempts, otherwise it will be a pointless exercise for Apple. Fingers crossed.

HEEELLLLLPPPP! The sky is falling!

Protruding cameras and antenna lines.

What has the world come to?

What's next a pink iPhone?..................
[doublepost=1460987305][/doublepost]

I wonder if the new Apple car will ship with 2GB of RAM or 4GB ?

5400 rpm per tire!

 

[smacrumon]

You're correct. A lot of that money is going to workers. All of the workers in Cupertino who actually spent years doing R&D and making deals and managing supply chains and marketing.

A small fraction goes to the people working the assembly line. They're disposable. They don't bring any exceptional talent to the table.

---

Regarding the various car rumors:

Apple will make a product you strap onto an existing car to make it self driving? I seriously doubt it. Apple likes controlling the entire customer experience. They're not going to let you upgrade your crap-mobile with their product.

Apple won't make the car self driving? Only if they don't want anyone to buy their car. The technology may not be ready today, but Tesla says that before the end of next year, they'll have fully self driving cars. If Apple doesn't launch a car until 2019, then it has to be fully self driving. Otherwise, it'll be far too little, far too late.

If Apple really wants to get into the car game though, they can.

They have over $200B in the bank. Making a car factory costs around $5B. So Apple could take that money and use it to build 40 factories around the world. Each of those factories could pump out 500k cars a year, so 20M cars total per year. That would cause Apple to have around 33% of the global car market.

What a sick way to look at things, the people working the assembly line ARE NOT disposable. They should be paid a lot more and be given better conditions than they get at the moment. Those Apple offshore factory workers are being exploited by the people at the Cupertino offices.

 

[yaxomoxay]

A small fraction goes to the people working the assembly line. They're disposable. They don't bring any exceptional talent to the table.

I don't think that it's a small fraction. In assembly lines the company pays a lot for the aggregate cost of all the line workers which of course can't (and shouldn't) make as much as an engineer if taken individually. I bet that if you sum all the salaries of all the line workers involved in iPhone production it would exceed that of Cupertino's employees.
[doublepost=1460987413][/doublepost]

What a sick way to look at things, the people working the assembly line ARE NOT disposable.

They are disposable, for the market. It is easy to find a line worker, it is quite hard to find the next Jony Ive or even a good engineer.
[doublepost=1460987483][/doublepost]

They should be paid a lot more and be given better conditions than they get at the moment. Those Apple offshore factory workers are being exploited by the people at the Cupertino offices.

Can you make an actual financial case for it? Mind you, you can't increase the iPhone price.

 

[Gudi]

On the contrary, I bet there's only a couple of decades until it's actually illegal for people to drive cars on public roads because the human factor is considered too big of a risk.

So how much money do you want to lose?

 

[69Mustang]

Cool story bro.
Glad you are a dying breed.

#team'murica

Dying breed? Ha! Car enthusiast aren't even close to being a dying breed. As long as Porsche makes that lovely flat six, Ford's bonkers new Voodo V8, Yamaha's screaming V-10, Merc's AMG injected madness, Nissan's bullet proof V6... and that's just engines. We are in the heyday of power coupled with efficiency.

For some, driving is an experience in and of itself. Dying breed.

"Reports of our death are greatly exaggerated." - Mark Twain hammering his 350hp Focus RS

 

[smacrumon]

Dying breed? Please show me where sales of such cars are declining.

Every such manufacturer is seeing sales growing year on year. Even the absolute top-end marques like Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLaren, Aston Martin & Porsche can't build cars fast enough to meet the demand.

I think the commenter is suggesting that view is on the downside of the curve. Views that are ascending are the opposite and is what is next in auto. Noise, petrol, grease is on the road to the past.

 

[dooyou]

We need more Volkswagen.

 

[smacrumon]

HEEELLLLLPPPP! The sky is falling!

Protruding cameras and antenna lines.

What has the world come to?

What's next a pink iPhone?..................
[doublepost=1460987305][/doublepost]

5400 rpm per tire!

The sky isn't falling. But it's poor design, ugly design. Missteps like these will need to be eliminated for success.

 

[Studioman]

I have seen the quote about loud motor noises in at a suspected site for months now, but it never hit me that it makes no sense. If they are testing an electric car. There would be no motor noise at all.

 

[yaxomoxay]

I have seen the quote about loud motor noises in at a suspected site for months now, but it never hit me that it makes no sense. If they are testing an electric car. There would be no motor noise at all.

They might be performing studies on engine performance.

 

[gohn]

Who'd buy one? When I buy a car, it's not based on tree hugging crap like economy, efficiency and how green it is, which is what Apple's effort will be.

When I buy a car it's based on (but not limited to) the following:

The history of the brand
Power
Speed
Sound
How much fun I am going to have driving it

Poop-poop said Mr.Toad

 

[KPandian1]

If they do, it will be a collectible classic for various reasons.

 

[diipii]

Apple is operating a secret vehicle research and development lab in the heart of Berlin, claims a report published in a German news outlet this morning.

According to Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (also known as F.A.Z.), Apple's clandestine facility employs between 15 and 20 "top class" men and women from the German automotive industry, with backgrounds in engineering, software, hardware, and sales.

The workers at the car lab are described as "progressive thinkers" in their respective fields who agreed to work with Apple after their ideas for innovation were stifled by the more conservative outlooks of their previous employers.

The article goes on to repeat previous speculation surrounding Apple's rumored vehicle research, noting that the company's first car will be electric, but also ventures to claim that it will lack self-driving capabilities because the required technology is still in development.

Additionally, the report alleges that Apple is investigating a vehicle-sharing model similar to BMW's Drive-Now and European car rental service Sixt, owing to the company's lack of a nationwide distribution network. Similar to previous rumors, Austrian contract manufacturer of high-end cars Magna Steyr is also cited as a partner for vehicle creation once the R&D stage is complete.

Apple Car rumors have gained momentum since early 2015, when The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple has hundreds of employees working to develop an electric vehicle under the codename "Project Titan." The bulk of research and development is thought to be taking place in an Apple-leased Sunnyvale campus in California, where loud "motor noises" were heard, sparking speculation that the building is a secret car testing facility for Apple's automotive project.

Tim Cook teased about the possibility of an Apple Car in February by saying "it's going to be Christmas Eve for a while," suggesting the much-rumored project will not be publicly revealed for some time.

Article Link: Apple Reportedly Running Secret Car Lab in German Capital

More smoke, mirrors, spin and downright balony. Just how many more deliberately leaked "secrets" can there be ?
Apple used to be great at making top computers for serious users but now it's all froth and fairy tales for Fan-Fools.

 

[KPandian1]

German culture is very different from Anglo-Saxon culture. If a German company is doing well, they continue to do what they're doing while refining their processes, becoming the best in the world at each tiny, specialist role.

That's the German mittelstand. They are 99% of German companies and make up about 2/3 of exports. Some of them make a single part, like a particular screw used in railway engineering, or other very niche thing. And they're happy to sit there for generations and not really diversify.

The term Anglo-Saxon includes the Germans, and is an ancient term.

 

[smacrumon]

I don't think that it's a small fraction. In assembly lines the company pays a lot for the aggregate cost of all the line workers which of course can't (and shouldn't) make as much as an engineer if taken individually. I bet that if you sum all the salaries of all the line workers involved in iPhone production it would exceed that of Cupertino's employees.
[doublepost=1460987413][/doublepost]

They are disposable, for the market. It is easy to find a line worker, it is quite hard to find the next Jony Ive or even a good engineer.
[doublepost=1460987483][/doublepost]

Can you make an actual financial case for it? Mind you, you can't increase the iPhone price.

The financial case is that the Apple offshore workers are severely underpaid.
There really is no debate, there is solid information on this.
The cost of living in the USA is about 1.5 x - 2.5 higher than in China. But, when looking at wages of factory workers in the USA, factory workers in the USA are compensated about 12 x higher than in China.
There is a severe imbalance in the compensation, work hours and conditions at Apple's offshore workers.
http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-livin...ult.jsp?country1=China&country2=United+States
http://www.chinalaborwatch.org/newscast/525
http://www.chinalaborwatch.org/report/103
http://www.chinalaborwatch.org/report/109
http://www.chinalaborwatch.org/upfile/2015_02_11/Analyzing Labor Conditions of Pegatron and Foxconn_vF.pdf
https://www.techinasia.com/report-apple-shifted-production-pegatron-save-money-workers-exploited
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-apple-pegatron-labour-idUSKBN0LG0P820150212
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-30532463

 

[szw-mapple fan]

I wonder if Steve ever sparked any discussions about an Apple Car when he was alive.

Yes, I believe it was one of the projects discussed while he was alive. They were thinking of building one back in 2008, but then the financial crisis hit and Detroit went under, so they moved ahead with making sure the iPhone became mainstream and put the car on hold.