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Tim Cook and Jony Ive Named Among Top 10 Automotive Tech Influencers

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Although the Apple Car is only a rumor at this point, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Chief Design Officer Jony Ive have landed spots on The Drive's list of The 10 Most Influential People in Automotive Technology (via Patently Apple). The Apple executives join well-known automotive industry individuals like Elon Musk, co-founder and CEO of Tesla Motors, and Uri Levine, founder of popular crowd-sourced driving app Waze.

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The main reason behind Ive and Cook's appearance on the spot seems to be the Apple Watch's ability to communicate with vehicles, similar to the recently launched Bentley app, with tentative references to the company's rumored ongoing work on the ultra-secret Apple Car. Jony Ive ranks sixth on the list, with The Drive referencing his influence on Apple's "cleanliness and iconoclasm" as a leader of the tech industry, and a potentially disruptive force in the car industry.
With smartphones having displaced wristwatches for many, a late-model iPhone is the best-designed thing they own. Ive's work--via Apple's blockbuster conferences, whose videos he narrates--introduced words like "chamfered," "beveled," and "anodized" to a general American lexicon. Moreover, its cleanliness and iconoclasm--well illustrated in this scene from Legally Blonde--leads the tech pack. The best car interiors reflect that aesthetic beautifully.
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Three spots up, Tim Cook came in third on the The Drive's ranking, which calls out the Apple CEO for guiding the company into support of various automotive-related software and, potentially, hardware, including Apple CarPlay, various Apple Watch compatible car apps and the rumored electric vehicle collaborations. Because of this, the site believes Apple's reach now "extends even deeper into the car world."
Steve Jobs was more than a whip-cracking captain--his turtleneck, New Balances and enthusiastic presentations were the face of the company. No one envied his replacement. Still, Tim Cook has become a competent, if quieter hand at the helm of the world's largest company, one whose reach--with Apple Carplay, Apple Watch-based car apps, and rumors of EV collaborations--extends ever deeper into the car world.
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There has been a steady stream of rumors surrounding the Apple Car for a few months now, the most recent of which point to Apple's plan to purchase "large expanses of real estate" for the project. A couple hundred Apple employees are suggested to be working on "Project Titan," which is believed to be electric-powered, potentially self-driving, and launch in 2020 at the earliest.

Read More: Apple Hires Former Tesla Engineer With Expertise in Prototyping Car Parts

Article Link: Tim Cook and Jony Ive Named Among Top 10 Automotive Tech Influencers
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2016/05/10/cook-ive-top-10-automotive-tech/
Okay. Someone is kissing butt to get invited to future Apple events, hoping Apple launches a car.

while I enjoy my Apple Watch, it's done bugger all in terms of my automotive experience.

What exactly did Ive do to deserve this?
 
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What... I began thinking "they haven't even announced anything" and then recalled it was about putting an iDevice with the CarKit API in a car? OK... I'm OK with that because the marriage of automative industry and tech is still quite immature compared to what people will imagine will happen, and they may not have had that much competition here...
 
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Oh for Goodness sake, the most influential people in the automotive industry are the grown ups responsible for 98% of the real (i.e. non-stupidly expensive) cars used by real (i.e. non-stupidly wealthy) people. They are the ones responsible for the continual trickle-down of usable tech from high spec to budget cars and who have significantly improved energy efficiency in response to legislative pressures. Suggesting Ive and Cook are influential in the industry just blows all credibility of the publisher.
 
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Tim Cook? Was he put there by default? He's hardly a trailblazer, just an overseer of creatives and engineers. His expertise was in supply chain management under Steve.
 
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I sometimes wonder what amazing tech idea Jony Ives is hanging onto until he takes over Apple...
 
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tw1ll said:
Oh for Goodness sake, the most influential people in the automotive industry are the grown ups responsible for 98% of the real (i.e. non-stupidly expensive) cars used by real (i.e. non-stupidly wealthy) people. They are the ones responsible for the continual tickle-down of usable tech from high spec to budget cars and who have significantly improved energy efficiency in response to legislative pressures. Suggesting Ive and Cook are influential in the industry just blows all credibility of the publisher.
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First off, no, I don't think Ive and Cook have had a big influence on the auto industry yet.

However, when it comes to the 98% (or whatever number it is) cars being built, they are far behind the times in terms of tech integration. Even the luxury cars are moving along at a snail's pace. The most innovative company company in terms of the marriage of technology and the automobile is Tesla. Elon Musk has seemed to model a lot of his presentation after Apple. The physical Tesla store, the keynote-style speeches, the OS updates. They're all Apple-like. And that's great. Steve Jobs was a great presenter.

Back to the post at hand; Apple may be a huge influencer, and some of their push with Car Play may help the industry catch up, but it's Tesla that has shown how a car company can embrace modern technology in the "cockpit", so to speak.
 
This reminds me of when Obama was given the Nobel peace prize before he even got into office. Really makes me wonder about how political these things have become and disconnected from any form of reality. In the case of Obama, you can think whatever about him, but to be fair, he had done nothing other than get elected and that seemed good enough to get a Nobel. Here with Tim and Jony, it's much the same. They created a great phone and a great watch, so of course we are going to give them an award - for a car.....
 
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rmatthewware said:
Elon Musk has seemed to model a lot of his presentation after Apple. The physical Tesla store, the keynote-style speeches, the OS updates. They're all Apple-like.
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ahahah, have you ever listened to Elon Musk giving a speech?
maybe he's trying to imitate an apple keynote, without actually preparing any speech.
but thankfully he has a plethora of woohing fans making noise at his presentations, otherwise he'll just embarass himself.
just my opinion.
 
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rmatthewware said:
First off, no, I don't think Ive and Cook have had a big influence on the auto industry yet.

However, when it comes to the 98% (or whatever number it is) cars being built, they are far behind the times in terms of tech integration. Even the luxury cars are moving along at a snail's pace. The most innovative company company in terms of the marriage of technology and the automobile is Tesla. Elon Musk has seemed to model a lot of his presentation after Apple. The physical Tesla store, the keynote-style speeches, the OS updates. They're all Apple-like. And that's great. Steve Jobs was a great presenter.

Back to the post at hand; Apple may be a huge influencer, and some of their push with Car Play may help the industry catch up, but it's Tesla that has shown how a car company can embrace modern technology in the "cockpit", so to speak.
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I don't disagree, however perhaps the key question in this context is " how much tech is of real benefit to the average driver?". Navigation, comms, entertainment, are already ok for most drivers probably. Reliable, cheap internet for passengers would certainly be great. Prognostic (vehicle) health monitoring, yes.
 
This list is just weird and retarded.

1. CEO of Google's self driving car. His work could culminate in a huge impact in one aspect of driving. Thus far, however, there has been no impact. He belongs much lower on the list.
2. Elon Musk. Has transformed every aspect of driving. Runs the fourth largest US auto company. Every company with the slightest clue is trying to beat him to the punch when he makes his products affordable, but it seems inevitable that the iPhone 4 of the car world will be delivered next summer with the Model 3. How the hell he not get #1?
3. Tim Cook. Has done absolutely nothing. He might impact the market. But probably not. Apple might be one of the first companies to seriously compete with Tesla and Google under his leadership, but it'll be because Apple has huge piles of resources and that they'll be playing catch up. Belongs under the CEO of Google's self driving car.
4. Guy who makes a car sharing service. Neat. I haven't heard of it before, but since he has actually done something, he belongs higher on the list than Tim Cook or the Google CEO.
5. Guy who makes a game. Uh - what? That's like saying the guy who made the Bat Mobile for Batman Begins should have a spot.
6. Jony Ive. He's known for driving nice looking cars and saying they look nice. Lots of other celebrities do this too. Why does Ive get a spot? After Apple makes a car, if everyone rushes to make their car look similar, then sure, give Ive a spot. Right now? No.
7. Another game guy. It's seriously bizarre that they chose not one, but two game guys on this list. I have nothing against games. I'm playing through the Half Life series again in my free time right now. But the vehicles I drive in games have absolutely no influence on what I drive in the real world.
8. Guy who changed how car engines and frames are made. This guy seems pretty boring, but like he probably actually influenced car designs. It actually makes sense that he's on the list.
9. Guy who made Waze. I love Waze. Everyone loves Waze. Who doesn't love Waze? Nobody. If you don't use it, you're making poor life choices (and wasting more time in traffic than you should). This guy definitely belongs near the top of the list.
10. Guy who made Trapster. It influenced Waze.

I'd rearrange the list like this.

Main List - people who have already made measurable impacts and influenced autos:

1. Elon Musk - Duh.
2. Boring engine and frame guy. He probably influenced a lot of boring but important details.
3. Guy who made Waze.
4. The car sharing service.
5. Guy who made Trapster.

Promising people, who might someday deserve a spot on the main list, but not today:

1. CEO of Google Self Driving
2. Tim Cook
3. Jony Ive

People who will never belong on the list - both of the game guys.
 
MH01 said:
Okay. Someone is kissing butt to get invited to future Apple events, hoping Apple launches a car.

while I enjoy my Apple Watch, it's done bugger all in terms of my automotive experience.

What exactly did Ive do to deserve this?
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Not sure, but here's something someone decided at Apple that was a great implementation:

-Siri requires a stable internet connect, which I often lack on the highway, you know, where I can't just shift down, park at any moment to reply to that one important message Siri is so unreliable to get right from dictation and especially car noise, because **** no, not everyone drives a super silent premium car.

Also, hey iOS 6 voice assistant. What's up?
When did you last need internet to tell me the time or something?
Never? Wow, maybe that's something we could implement in a product touted as better than you...?

Glassed Silver:ios
 
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robotica said:
Honestly who would buy an apple car?
Not me that's for damn sure.
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I like Harley Davidson, but if they made a helicopter I wouldn't fly in it. I love that my OS X is better than Windows, but if I had the same stupid issues in a car as I do on OS X and iOS, I wouldn't want that car. By the time Apple Car comes out, auto pilot will be common, I simply don't trust Apple with this.

To kiss ass and call these guys influencers is ridiculous.
 
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