It makes total sense that Apple will eventually come out with the Apple Car. Electric vehicles are basically smartphones on wheels.
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Kuo: Development of Apple Car Has 'Lost All Visibility'
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That's why I said, once it becomes a software play, that's when Apple will move.
Tesla will perfect the battery, Tesla will perfect the 3 stamp manufacturing process.
And Apple will make the money.
First mover advantage is always a massive disadvantage.
Microsoft was first to tablets, Apple dominated with iPad
Apple was first to PC - Microsoft ended up dominating
BlackBerry was first to smart phones, Apple dominated with iPhone
Sony was first to walkman, Apple dominated with iPod.
They've learned their lesson.
Facebook / Meta was first to VR, Apple will dominate with Vision Pro
I would like to remind the readers of this topic that Apple has set an ambitious carbon neutral deadline for itself:
Achieving such an ambitious carbon neutral goal while manufacturing over 200 million iPhones, 50 million iPads, and 25 million Macs each year will be impossible while also manufacturing cars. According to the Congressional Budget Office, "Emissions of carbon dioxide in the transportation sector accounted for 38 percent of energy-related emissions in the United States in 2021—the largest share of such emissions of any sector of the economy."
Apple wants no piece of this pie if they want to achieve their "100 percent carbon neutral" goal:
Apple commits to be 100 percent carbon neutral for its supply chain and products by 2030. (link)
Achieving such an ambitious carbon neutral goal while manufacturing over 200 million iPhones, 50 million iPads, and 25 million Macs each year will be impossible while also manufacturing cars. According to the Congressional Budget Office, "Emissions of carbon dioxide in the transportation sector accounted for 38 percent of energy-related emissions in the United States in 2021—the largest share of such emissions of any sector of the economy."
Apple wants no piece of this pie if they want to achieve their "100 percent carbon neutral" goal:
EV startups other than Tesla have been burning through cash and many are basically insolvent. Legacy automakers like Ford and GM are losing tons of money on EVs right now and it’s only their ICE products still keeping them in the black. Eventually there will be money made, but right now it‘s a cash drain business.
Apple doesn’t like cash drain or low margin businesses. For that reason alone along with many others there is no Apple car nor will there ever be one.
Until Apple announces it then it didn’t happen. (And even then it might not.) If you’re looking to Kuo for predictions then prepare to lose your shirt.
I can just see right now an Apple car owner storming into an Apple Store and bit***g to the Genius Bar about a flat tire.
That’s why Apple won’t do it.
Instead, I think Apple was working with another car manufacturer on software to license to all car manufacturers that don’t want to create their own self driving systems.
That’s why Apple won’t do it.
Instead, I think Apple was working with another car manufacturer on software to license to all car manufacturers that don’t want to create their own self driving systems.
"if Apple does not adopt some kind of acquisition strategy to make inroads in the automotive market"
That smells like the rumour of Mullen and Apple - which could or could not have been a desperate attempt to lift the stock price. (that's what rumours are for, no?)
That one has tanked well let's say close to 100% since IPO
That smells like the rumour of Mullen and Apple - which could or could not have been a desperate attempt to lift the stock price. (that's what rumours are for, no?)
That one has tanked well let's say close to 100% since IPO
I think if we do ever see an Apple car it's going to be more akin to what the Motorola ROKR was to iTunes compared to a full iPhone experience.
I always assumed the project was about building a CarPlay with a deeper vehicle integration. Kinda like Android Automotive, except with the HAL-part fixed in the vehicle but the interface on top of it implemented in CarPlay. This explained (to me anyway) the hirings of automotive industry experts from various areas, to acquire deep domain competence in those areas and implement it into CarPlay.
I know a lot of people in the automotive industry and I'm sure it was a thing.
People don't really talk about details due to NDAs, but why would former colleagues and engineers from competing brands suddenly start positions at Apple and subsidiaries working with Apple at far greater rates than ever before?
In addition to this increase in hires, they were hiring rolls you definitely don't need for CarPlay, think chemistry, think aerodynamics, think hydraulics...
Those hires stopped about 3 years ago, now it's back to your occasional CarPlay related hire. A lot of automotive engineers have left Apple.
It doesn't take a genius to figure out what's going on.
EXACTLY!!
Apple’s car project simply was the new Car Play! That’s it!
Apple’s AI team was a joke and failing after hiring that lead from Google granting him executive stock options less than a year joining and all we got from his leadership is Siri recognizing and action if Shortcuts & slightly smoother voices! Then off to the Car project and whattaknow (?) garbage!!!
Kick the guy out of Apple already he’s a Trojan horse!!
The Fisker ($FSR) product line checks all the boxes for Apple if they are serious about entering the EV space...which I am starting to doubt.
What is the better value...have CarPlay in almost every vehicle for the halo effect -or- anger all of them by being a competitor? I don't know. What I do know is that Fisker will be #2 on Tesla's heels by next year.
What is the better value...have CarPlay in almost every vehicle for the halo effect -or- anger all of them by being a competitor? I don't know. What I do know is that Fisker will be #2 on Tesla's heels by next year.
Huawei and Xiaomi builds cars, and Nio released their smartphone.
https://www.businessinsider.com/steve-jobs-was-thinking-about-an-apple-car-in-2008-2015-11?international=true&r=US&IR=T
Let's not overcomplicate Apple's potential vision and mission. Its most important development, the smartphone, made personal communicating (a form of bridging distances) much more diverse and playful - something that the traditional phone companies (the Bells) had never even begun to conceive.
Bridging distances in person (personal mobility) can also be made much more efficient, greener and automated than the car industry wants us to believe. THE trick is not to fall for "personal mobility, oh that is something that the automakers are really good at". They think personal mobility = about developing and selling cars. It needn't be. The contrary, the fact that AV developers started working together with car brands, explains why they still haven't been successful in bringing autonomous drive, after having spent more than $100 billion according to WSJ and MIT.
IMO, the reverse tricycle or trike, aka the tadpole three-wheeler, is the ONLY format that will be able to tackle all challenges that going from A to B in a personal transportation mode is dealing with: traffic, more road safety, battery efficiency, automated drive. Think of it as an 'appliance' for personal mobility purposes. The transition from regular cellphone to smartphone has made APPLE the world’s richest company. The personal passenger car represents market value/total spendings at least 10–100 times bigger than what consumers spend on smartphones. Below: a three-seater that will suffice in 95% of all transportation needs (average car occupancy is 1.2 person). More:
Silicon Valley’s Biggest Challenge Yet
The thing is this: visionary Steve Jobs at least would have understood, Tim Cook is just managing stuff.
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How long will it take for AI (Artificial Intelligence) to figure out
‘affordable electrification + traffic + road safety + driverless’...
that it’s best to REthink, REtemplate, REformat the car?
Steve Jobs: “Design is not just what it looks like, design is how it works”.
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This is what I always expected would be the realistic outcome for an "Apple car." Get all the major auto makers to standardize on CarPlay/Android Auto. Let the tech companies handle that stuff so the auto makers can focus on the actual car.
And I'm sorry, Apple making a full-scale car is just too hard a sell for anyone outside of zealots. This isn't a computer with a glitch that can get updated. Something goes wrong with the car, you could be killed. Apple has no history building their own cars, who would truly be willing to buy the first-gen model and effectively beta test it? Obviously you always have to start from somewhere, but I'm going to trust the makers that have been building cars for decades, or even close to a century, before I trust Apple. At the very least, I'll let someone else try out the first few gens of Apple cars, and hope none of them get killed.
The sooner you realize Apple is greenwashing like all other major corporations, the sooner you will realize why they seemingly do things that go against their stated goals.
Upstaging Apple, Xiaomi is likely to unfurl a tech-laden, affordably priced car with at least L2+ autonomy.
