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Apple will not be producing a car. If that is even on their roadmap, it is a decade or more out. What they WILL do will be similar to what Google just did with the Polestar 2 but on a grander scale - that is, the vehicle's integrated electronics (it's "brain") will be an Apple-designed system. Basically, CarPlay but for every function of the car. Many of these features already exist in SOME cars or through third-party products/services, but Apple would be integrating them into a central system and it could be offered on lots of cars.

- While driving: "Hey Siri, turn up the rear A/C"
- Siri prompts that your intended (or predicted) destination might be further than your current tank will allow, maybe even suggesting where to stop for gas.
- From inside your house: "Hey Siri, warm up my car"
- Shortcut that warms up car automatically 5 minutes before departure time for an event
- Garage door automatically opens when car is in garage and starts, and closes when it leaves (car-dependent, rather than person-dependent)
- Using Apple's HIGHLY advanced software and processing core competency to utilize the sensors already in many/most modern cars and license out their integration to OEMs. i.e. Subaru and others currently use forward-facing cameras to operate many of their safety features, and Apple Maps and CarPlay could integrate this into the navigation (as some already do) alongside advanced prompts and visual cues.

Again, basically, car manufacturers have never been great at technology interfaces. They are getting better as it becomes more important to consumers, but they're still not on the level of actual tech companies. This is why they are willing to pay license money to have Android Auto and CarPlay available, because people want them more than what the OEM came up with. This is a solid precedent for them willing to pay royalties to have Apple's integrated system.

For an early version of this type of integration, I totally believe that the end of next year is feasible.
I have a strong feeling that its going to be a special Apple BMW, considering it always has been BMW that was always first to try out new Apple features.

iPod Integration, Apple CarPlay, Wallet CarKey, etc.
 
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I was skeptical about Apples desire to enter the car industry, but I am more likely to believe it looking at how much they have in some way chosen to participate in a various consumer market. They are not looking for quantity, but more luxury/apirational brand. I certainly won't be able to buy or afford one of these though.

My guess is, Apple might go with different approaches.

- Create an actual autonomous capable vehicle like the Tesla.
- Provide Apple Car type components similar to Car Play for general vehicles or Apple TV like support on smart TVs.
- Or they will do both.

I am leaning on them doing both.

Will it be 2021? I don't think so, I don't think it will be 2023 or 2025 either, more likely 2027. It will be a perfect fit to the 20th anniversary of the iPhone.

Forum members laughed at me when I said Apple is likely to create branded homes and apartments in the next decade and eventually cities.

If you look at the concept home they used in the Home Pod Mini event, Apple probably has a model concept of what they think a Home can be like. Ultimately, the company will want to have a broader effect on society and part of that will include creating Apple Communities or Neighbourhoods.

It sounds ridiculous, but tell that to someone in 2007 that you would be able to talk to someone by video on a computer in your pocket or have a computer on your wrist that can take phone calls or monitor your vitals.
 
“We've learned and struggled for a few years here figuring out how to make a decent <car>. PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They’re not going to just walk in.”
 
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I can see it. Engaging a manufacturer in Taiwan makes a ton of sense.

Unlike an "Apple TV," a piece of home entertainment electronics that has been severely commoditized with little room for substantial improvement, there are loads of possibilities with Apple thinking outside the box with what a modern energy efficient care can be.

Apple's future is exciting!
 
I have a strong feeling that its going to be a special Apple BMW, considering it always has been BMW that was always first to try out new Apple features.

iPod Integration, Apple CarPlay, Wallet CarKey, etc.
Apple at one point was rumored to build a car on the BMW i3 platform, which I was an early adopter of and personally loved. That car was like a piece of art to me, it’s under-appreciated and pictures/videos online don’t do a well-specced version justice. Although it has its drawbacks and would require a major revamp for a company like Apple to build a modern EV off of it, there are a lot of genuine innovations such as the carbon fiber reinforced chassis that make it unique to every other vehicle on the road. I would be curious to see this concept live on under Apple’s technology and design.
 
More than likely this is some sort of late 2020 kind of April Fool’s joke. Apple has probably just reinvented the wheel and patented it.
 
I call utter B.S. on this rumor.

The California Department of Motor Vehicles requires autonomous vehicle developers to provide regular reports on test fleet operations.

Apple's autonomous vehicle team simply doesn't have much in the way of mileage.

The champion is Alphabet's Waymo operation. Some of their test vehicles have prominently displayed commercial licenses just like shuttle buses, schoolbuses, and limousines have.

If Apple were really in a late-stage development cycle of autonomous driving, CA DMV would have reports showing millions of miles of actual test driving from Apple's autonomous driving division. There would also be a bunch of vehicles with TCP bumper ID numbers even if Apple was trying to be clandestine about their identity.

There are probably 30-40 autonomous driving vehicle operations running locally. Some are easily identified (Waymo, the acquired driveAI), others are running in stealth mode while on the streets. But not to the DMV.

No one can just throw their autonomous driving prototype on public roads. They need provisional approval from the DMV and must provide regular reports.

Apple cannot fly under the radar with their testing. Maybe they can masquerade as a stealth startup in the early stages but in the late stages, it would likely be obvious that Big Money was behind an operation with millions of miles and a formidably successful/safe track record.
 
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And after 1000 charge/refill cycles, you'll have to trade it.

The wheels are like the Mac Pro wheels and the Apple Display stand.

About 80% of the time Apple gets things right, the other 20%, not so much.
The doors will cost $10000 extra, but will be carved from a single ingot of alumin-eee-um.
 
Apple Car? lol.....I guess it would three times than Tesla offering :cool:

No evidence so far, indeed this is just rumor but too sketchy.
 
I have a strong feeling that its going to be a special Apple BMW, considering it always has been BMW that was always first to try out new Apple features.

iPod Integration, Apple CarPlay, Wallet CarKey, etc.
Considering that BMW is now charging an annual fee for CarPlay, which is something that must make Apple unhappy, I doubt it.
 
I call utter B.S. on this rumor.

The California Department of Motor Vehicles requires autonomous vehicle developers to provide regular reports on test fleet operations.

Apple's autonomous vehicle team simply doesn't have much in the way of mileage.

The champion is Alphabet's Waymo operation. Some of their test vehicles have prominently displayed commercial licenses just like shuttle buses, schoolbuses, and limousines have.

If Apple were really in a late-stage development cycle of autonomous driving, CA DMV would have reports showing millions of miles of actual test driving from Apple's autonomous driving division. There would also be a bunch of vehicles with TCP bumper ID numbers even if Apple was trying to be clandestine about their identity.

There are probably 30-40 autonomous driving vehicle operations running locally. Some are easily identified (Waymo, the acquired driveAI), others are running in stealth mode while on the streets. But not to the DMV.

No one can just throw their autonomous driving prototype on public roads. They need provisional approval from the DMV and must provide regular reports.

Apple cannot fly under the radar with their testing. Maybe they can masquerade as a stealth startup in the early stages but in the late stages, it would likely be obvious that Big Money was behind an operation with millions of miles and a formidably successful/safe track record.

Has nobody considered that, just possibly, Apple will release a car that does not feature autonomous driving?

After all, that’s how Tesla started out.

Based on patents and rumors, Apple has lots of ideas for ways to improve cars that have nothing to do with autonomous driving.
 
Considering that BMW is now charging an annual fee for CarPlay, which is something that must make Apple unhappy, I doubt it.
They‘ve since changed their policy to include CarPlay for the life of the car, free on vehicles that support it.
 
If Apple were producing a car, we'd know far more about it than we do.

Again, if Apple had a car production facility, we'd know.
You mean Apple, one of the most secretive companies in the world, which developed and manufactured the most successful consumer product of all time without any pre-launch leaks. That Apple?!

Apple could not possibly be doing something that I don't know about, because if they were, I'd know about it! Holy circular reasoning, Batman! @#$KAPOW$#@
 
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Can't wait for the Apple iCar Pro (priced at a very reasonable and affordable $235,000) with all of the first generation bugs and hours of shutdowns while it installs software updates!
 
It's insane to me that they're even making a car. How about kitchen appliances? Hair dryers? Houses? Are they just going to make anything they can slap their logo onto?
 
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If Apple were producing a car, we'd know far more about it than we do. The requirements to even start building prototype motor vehicles in the United States are both high, and applications and progress is public.

If Apple (or indeed any shell company) had registered as such, we'd know.

Not to mention there's a finite number of manufacturing lines and facilities able to produce or assemble a car, Tesla would be the only equivalent successful example, and they're as outside the box for car components etc. as Apple might be. There's a reason Tesla bought the Fremont factory.

Again, if Apple had a car production facility, we'd know.
Apple doesn't have to own a car factory or phone factory or a factory.
 
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