If the range is 300 miles+ and the price is in the Tesla Model 3 ballpark I might bite. But, alas, the price will probably be in the Bugatti range and completely unaffordable by normal people. Yes, we’ll a bunch of millionaires driving them but they’ll just be a daydream for the rest of us.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Report: Apple Chose to Develop Apple Car Alone to Avoid Further Delays, Currently Selecting Suppliers
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
If you think cars hard are to build, think about how hard it is to build an airplane or a space craft. The Safety regulations are some of the toughest. But none the less, Honda now builds and sells a business airplane called the HondaJet. Jeff Bezos started Blue Origin and Elon Musk started SpaceX. Airplanes and space craft have an even higher level of safety.
Apple was late to the cellular phone market, late to the microprocessor market and will be late to the automative market. Apple has proved time and again that it can be successful entering new markets.
Speaking of Honda, they are the first automotive manufacturer to have a certified level 3 Autonomous car: https://www.autotrader.com/car-news/this-honda-is-the-worlds-first-level-3-autonomous-car.
Last edited:
Bring back Jony Ive. "The car is made from aerospace grade alyoominium, we have designed it to be the thinnest car possible."
What's the Apple car run on?
Air Power, of course! 😂
Hello? Roadside assistance? Yeah, my Apple car isn't working. I think something is broken.
RA: "Please hold as we connect you to CEO level customer service".
Yeah, your Apple car doesn't run? You DUMMY. YOU"RE HOLDING IT WRONG! Buy this cover for it, and it will work just fine....
Air Power, of course! 😂
Hello? Roadside assistance? Yeah, my Apple car isn't working. I think something is broken.
RA: "Please hold as we connect you to CEO level customer service".
Yeah, your Apple car doesn't run? You DUMMY. YOU"RE HOLDING IT WRONG! Buy this cover for it, and it will work just fine....
I'm curious how Apple intends to distribute these Jetson-mobiles. Will they have special locations where customers can have them delivered? Will some Apple Stores be expanded with show rooms and garages? Will the cars be dropped off by aerial drones? Etc. etc. 😲
OEM’s lead time for new models are 2 to 5 years with an established infrastructure in place. Newer models now are often reconfigured systems from previous platforms since the basic component‘s designs haven’t changed much . A wheel hub is a wheel hub etc. Now it’s telematics, eye candy design and EV that drive development.
Is anyone surprised no existing car company would want to give Apple oxygen on their playground? Kinda like inviting the Borg over for dinner.
Yes very likely. It will be a show off tool at the golf courses for a while before middle class mortgages can lift one.
I'm not sure that comparisons to the phone market, and the impact the iPhone had are apt. The EV market is hot, with a great deal of innovation happening already. Just this year we are seeing a ton of purpose-built EVs that provide real alternatives to Tesla. Automakers are rethinking the ergonomics of vehicles, now that they have different physical constraints than those powered by internal combustion engines.
Where Apple could have a real impact is in their ability to market and reshape people's thinking. Self-driving cars will be far safer and more efficient than what we have now, but it is going to be a big lift to get a critical mass of customers willing to use them. But Apple can call it iDrive or SuperMotion or whatever, and get people to value the idea.
I've no clue how quickly Apple can create a full-fledged car company. Maybe they only release a thousand vehicles in their first year. I don't really think that is the point for Apple. They have too much liquid cash. If they can turn that into another growing business, that's good for Apple in the long run. The Apple Car doesn't have to become ubiquitous overnight. It needs to just keep growing over time.
But I do think it is important to remember that it is unlikely that Apple has a killer feature here (like being first to market with a capacitive phone screen with an OS that made good use of it). Instead, they are stepping into a highly regulated, quickly advancing industry.
Where Apple could have a real impact is in their ability to market and reshape people's thinking. Self-driving cars will be far safer and more efficient than what we have now, but it is going to be a big lift to get a critical mass of customers willing to use them. But Apple can call it iDrive or SuperMotion or whatever, and get people to value the idea.
I've no clue how quickly Apple can create a full-fledged car company. Maybe they only release a thousand vehicles in their first year. I don't really think that is the point for Apple. They have too much liquid cash. If they can turn that into another growing business, that's good for Apple in the long run. The Apple Car doesn't have to become ubiquitous overnight. It needs to just keep growing over time.
But I do think it is important to remember that it is unlikely that Apple has a killer feature here (like being first to market with a capacitive phone screen with an OS that made good use of it). Instead, they are stepping into a highly regulated, quickly advancing industry.
I never had interest....
If i could have back all the time I've wasted in the last 5 years with these stupid car rumors.
Nothing in the way Apple operates, builds things, supports things (you are driving it wrong?), etc gives me any level of confidence in any vehicle they would produce.
The fact that it is Apple makes the vehicle a non-starter to me.
I mean, seriously, a company that is an expert in outsourcing small devices is going to internally build a car? Tim Cook needs his head examined.
I think these driverless cars are not for general use in unpredictable streets of today. Where they will be more useful today will be within large compounds like airports, corporate offices, and any place that needs constant back and forth traffic without constant stops that driving downtown would have.
If these are designed with remote control in mind, an offsite driver can be used to shuttle more important cargo like executives. In that case, when operated remotely while being able to fallback on autopilot, vehicles like this will be a much bigger hit than completely relying on AI to pull it off. After a decade of updates to the AI I am sure it will be safer than humans, but we are not there yet. Remote control is the next step before full automation.
I don't see the Apple car as being for the general public in its debut and think they will make cars for themselves and for their production facilities more than for the general public. This will give them time to completely control the publicity of such vehicles before putting them out to the general public that will do dumb things with them and crash them. Apple is going to sell you on the idea way before you can get your hands on one. Car wrecks in the early days of getting this off the ground will do them more harm than good. So who cares about an apple car when hardly anyone can get one. It's not for us. Its so they can control their own distribution chain and employees more than anything else if you step back and look at the bigger picture. And many more corporations will see the benefit of that and hop on board.
If these are designed with remote control in mind, an offsite driver can be used to shuttle more important cargo like executives. In that case, when operated remotely while being able to fallback on autopilot, vehicles like this will be a much bigger hit than completely relying on AI to pull it off. After a decade of updates to the AI I am sure it will be safer than humans, but we are not there yet. Remote control is the next step before full automation.
I don't see the Apple car as being for the general public in its debut and think they will make cars for themselves and for their production facilities more than for the general public. This will give them time to completely control the publicity of such vehicles before putting them out to the general public that will do dumb things with them and crash them. Apple is going to sell you on the idea way before you can get your hands on one. Car wrecks in the early days of getting this off the ground will do them more harm than good. So who cares about an apple car when hardly anyone can get one. It's not for us. Its so they can control their own distribution chain and employees more than anything else if you step back and look at the bigger picture. And many more corporations will see the benefit of that and hop on board.
But they don't even allow time machine backups to iCloud!!!
Even iOS doesn't do a 'complete' backup to iCloud, you have to do an encrypted backup on a Mac or PC.
That is actually the easiest problem in all of this that Apple has: they are already TSMC’s largest single customer, same with other chip suppliers, and have a resilient supply chain and priority. Also the car isnt launching this year, by the time it does the chip shortage will hopefully eased or gone away.
Thats not how the auto industry works.
Ford and Mazda worked together on many cars that competed.
Mitsubishi and Chrystler did the same.(Diamond Star Motors)
The Supra and Z4 are the same car by 2 makers (Toyota and BMW)
The 86 and BRZ again are Toyota/Subaru working together on cars.
Lotus drivetrains are typically from Honda and Toyota.
Konissegge(know I spelled that wrong) used to be powered by Ford Mustang engines.
The Saturn ION Vue was using a Honda engine.
Many 90's GM's had Toyota Engines (Geo, Metro, Malibu)
The 90's Chevy Cavalier was sold in Japan as the Toyota Cavalier.
Ford and GM worked together to make a new 10spd auto transmission.
Ferrari suspension is based heavily on the Cadiliac based magnetic ride system.
What is MORE likely is that Apple refused to let the automakers reuse or rebrand any IP from the joint development.
Do you really want to go there with that comparison?
Yes, Jeff Bezos started Blue Origin. Blue Origin turned 21 years old yesterday and is a complete joke and is more known for suing everyone to slow them down because they are incapable of competing on their own. Blue Origin is getting lapped by smaller startups like Rocket Lab, Astra, etc while their biggest competitor SpaceX has flown well over 100 reusable orbital flights vs Blue Origin's ZERO.
So if you want to say Bezos & Musk went into a hard industry.... only one has come out as having accomplished anything in 20 years. Are you saying that is how it will be with Cook vs Musk? Because Musk also went into a hard industry to break into (cars) and pulled it off, while other startups have also failed.
It is much more interesting if Apple develops the car on its own. They have world-wide brand recognition, can they make a good EV vehicle? Perhaps they're thinking about making the iPhone of EV vehicles...don't remove the steering wheel.
I am available to beta test an Apple Car in Canada.
I am available to beta test an Apple Car in Canada.
I’m most interested in what Canoo is doing in the EV space. Their aesthetic is what I cluke see coming out of Apple. Polarizing. You either remove it or hate it. I happen to find it a refreshing take on an auto. I like the skateboard platform concept as well. It’s a super competitive space, so I’ll be interested to see how Canoo fares.
A lot of folks underestimate Apple. Yammering on about their core and how an EV auto is out of their wheelhouse. While true, it makes perfect sense. As more and more devices rely on an OS, and with the massive user base Apple has trained to depend on their UI, it only makes sense they work toward getting their OS, their experience, their integration in as many spaces as is possible. While it may seem wacky for a computer company to get into EV, really, the term “computer” has evolved from a big, beige box that sits on a desk and is used for word processing. Computers are literally everywhere. In your pocket. On your wrist. In your fridge. In your cars. Why would Apple not explore other spaces? There is a metric-ton of money to be made. And Apple is smart to explore EV and other potentials.
Driverless cars are probably a lot closer than you think. Google's cars have been tooling around California for years. They have significantly fewer accidents than human driven cars, and the accidents are less severe. I think the challenges at this point are not related to chaotic roads so much as more complex weather conditions. It is also worth noting that driverless cars will make the roads less chaotic and more predictable for other driverless cars and human driven cars alike.
Also, these companies relied on NASA a great deal at the beginning. Government grants and contracts are still a huge deal for them as well.
Self driving cars will never be safe or a thing. Sorry to burst your bubble. Money pit for Apple. Tim's whale.
IMO what would work, is "Apple Edition" trim levels of mid-range to luxury range of vehicles.
Kitted out with the Apple versions of the autonomous driving, and the entire infotainment & ecosystem integration, with some interior changes to focus on the premium version. The auto industry already does this, so this wouldnt be that big of a deal.
But leave the exterior design, mechanical & safety engineering to the people who have been doing this for decades.
I think that would work. That way Apple would not be a competitor, but a partner. And these things would sell like hotcakes.
Kitted out with the Apple versions of the autonomous driving, and the entire infotainment & ecosystem integration, with some interior changes to focus on the premium version. The auto industry already does this, so this wouldnt be that big of a deal.
But leave the exterior design, mechanical & safety engineering to the people who have been doing this for decades.
I think that would work. That way Apple would not be a competitor, but a partner. And these things would sell like hotcakes.
Hard disagree. They are already reasonably safe, and get in fewer accidents than human-driven cars. There are just a massive number of weather issues and edge cases that need to be considered and addressed.
I suspect that long-haul trucking will be where it first takes off. Why pay inefficient humans to navigate simple freeways, with all the eating, sleeping, and peeing they have to do? Maybe the largest obstacle isn't technological, but social. That will come with time, though. I double many people would get on a plane with no pilot, but people would be largely OK with autopilots hauling packages.
Collaborations are known in the car industry but how many of these collaborations take place at the same production plant? Does Ford do a production run then stop so Mazda can produce their cars and visa versa?
I believe in one of the threads that Macrumours made on the subject of Apple cars, there was a remark made that car auto makers were reluctant to partner with Apple because it would affect the production runs of their own cars, implying that Apple, not having it's own production plant would have to use the production plant of the car maker they partnered with.
With regards to the IP thing, if I was in Apple's shoes I wouldn't let the auto makers reuse or rebrand Apple IP because it would work in the auto makers favour and not Apple's in my opinion.
