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Apple is widely rumored to be working on a self-driving car, internally codenamed "Project Titan." Apple reportedly began work on the project in 2014, and years later, the rumor mill is in full swing speculating on when Apple will debut its self-driving technology. Speculation has become so rampant that potential competitors to an Apple Car are already weighing its potential threat to the overall car industry.

herbert-diess-vw.jpg

As reported by Reuters today, Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess said that he's "not afraid" of an ‌Apple Car‌ and that Apple will not be able to overtake the $2 trillion automobile industry overnight. In typical Apple fashion, the company has not confirmed it's working on a self-driving car, but Diess believes that the rumors and reports are "logical." Apple has expertise in battery technology, software, and design, and it can easily utilize all of its proficiency in those areas to create an automobile, the CEO was quoted as saying.

Similar remarks can be traced back to 2006, one year prior to the launch of the iPhone, when the CEO of Palm, which at the time was one of the leading smartphone makers, stated that Apple would not "just figure this out," referring to smartphones. In the years that followed, however, the iPhone would captivate the market, eventually leading it to $65 billion in revenue for a single quarter.

Volkswagen, based in Germany, is one of the largest car manufacturers in Europe and around the world, giving it a significant position in the industry. Diess said he is not concerned that Apple joining the market would disrupt Volkswagen's dominance, saying that despite Apple's expertise in all of the technology needed to create a car, his company is still "not afraid" and that Apple "will not manage" to disrupt the market overnight.

Until this year, very little was known about how Apple would go about building an actual self-driving car. Apple uses third-party suppliers such as TSMC and Foxconn to build current products like the iPhone and Mac, but none of its current suppliers are fully positioned to build an automobile. On that front, Apple is expected to partner with an already well-known and established car maker to fulfill its self-driving car ambitions.

In early January, reports began to surface that Apple was close to inking a deal with Hyundai, after the automaker released a statement confirming that it was in talks with the tech giant. The statement was quickly revoked and reworded to exclude mentions of Apple, and it has since been reported that talks between Hyundai and Apple have ground to a halt.

Multiple sources have suggested different timeframes for the launch of the Apple Car, with the earliest reports suggesting a release as early as 2024. Bloomberg, however, believes that the car is "nowhere near production stage" and that a release is at least five to seven years away.

Article Link: Volkswagen CEO: We're 'Not Afraid' of a Potential 'Apple Car'
 
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Why would they be afraid ? Tesla is already very present for investors but it didn't take any of the VW market shares. Apple will most probably not be different, if they ever actually come in this market. The automotive market is experiencing a revolution today anyhow and companies with strong RnD teams like VW or Toyota are well positioned to profit from it.
 
Why do these companies always do this? They underestimate Apple then just get humiliated when they end up being successful.
is the same thing with the apple watch....you think Rolex, patek philippe , augmentin pique care about the apple watch success ? or you think they were afraid when the rumored about an apple watch started to appear?
No...and they still dont
So, its ok for competition point of view, nothing more, nothing less
 
Famous last words? 😂 In all seriousness as everyone in the automotive industry knows, this market is different to consumer electronics in a lot of big ways. I think the thing Apple will change is what we use cars for, not buying an Apple car instead of other cars to be sat outside the house depreciating.
 
instead of reading and commenting on rumors he should be paying attention on his organization and focusing on the task ahead: VW and all the German automakers are WAY BEHIND in EV development and autonomous driving. But, the German government and the EU will continue to protect them and fund them, so they are not going to go away, but the competition is GROWING, just look at the number of EV startups here in the US (Rivian, Lucid, Canoo ...) and the countless ones from China ...
 
I don't know how the interview went, but it's very easy to feed lines into a response and then take that as a statement. If I framed the question "Are you afraid of apple entering the car market?" And his response is "We're not afraid, we feel like we have a strong lineup of EV's entering the market etc etc..."

I'd be more concerned if a CEO flat out said they were "concerned" or "afraid".
 
Why are we comparing to what the iPhone did to the phone industry? Apple was a technology company for decades before.

They are not a car company, plus they don't make anything themselves. It's one thing to make small gadgets and computers, than to fully develop, certify, and be able to build cars on a mass scale that are safe, efficient and user friendly.

Just look at Tesla, how hard a time they've had building the actual car, not the technology.

 
is the same thing with the apple watch....you think Rolex, patek philippe , augmentin pique care about the apple watch success ? or you think they were afraid when the rumored about an apple watch started to appear?
No...and they still dont
So, its ok for competition point of view, nothing more, nothing less

Swiss watch market saw a 13% decline in 2019. I mention this year because I don't think it'd be fair to include the pandemic 2020 but they declined even further in that.

Meanwhile the Apple Watch outsold the entire swiss watch market, combined. It would be foolish to think the Apple Watch hasn't harmed the luxury watch market. Everyone is carrying a smart phone so wearing an Apple Watch as 1/4th of all iPhone owners do according to recent data posted here on MacRumors home page would mean it is doing damage.

Also when you consider that the swiss watches are often at the higher end of the market costing several hundred to several thousand dollars and iPhone owners tend to be more affluent than Android owners and the Apple Watch only works with iPhone it tends to do a lot of damage to these luxury watch makers.

Essentially their potential customers are being turned onto functional technology instead of high luxury fashion due to the utility it affords them. That's not to say these luxury watches are dead, far from it. But that 13% decline in 2019 is hard to dismiss as anything but damaging.

Can Apple repeat this success in Cars? I have my doubts, but then I had my doubts about the iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch and I was proven wrong every time.
 
Why are we comparing to what the iPhone did to the phone industry? Apple was a technology company for decades before.

They are not a car company, plus they don't make anything themselves. It's one thing to make small gadgets and computers, than to fully develop, certify, and be able to build cars on a mass scale that are safe, efficient and user friendly.

Just look at Tesla, how hard a time they've had building the actual car, not the technology.


On the other hand look at Tesla selling every single car they produce with 1 year waiting lists on some models due to demand and they've only been selling cars for 10 years, with zero experience beyond what's held in the minds of the employees they hired.

Apple has a big leg up on that by having 10x the size and capital, the ability to hire anyone they want by presenting them with a bucket of cash. If they wanted they could hire the CEO of Volkswagen they have that kind of money.
 
Why would they be afraid ? Tesla is already very present for investors but it didn't take any of the VW market shares. Apple will most probably not be different, if they ever actually come in this market.
It would be different. Apple doesn’t make products just to follow along their competition. I do think Apple Car would be focused most on a service though. With all the excitement around EVs, theres probably more enthusiasm to never own a vehicle again.
 
Why would they be afraid? No manufacturer should, because most (with the exception of luxury brands) offer broad pricing structures. VW’s range from £15k to around £35k, with lots of body shapes, engines and technologies to choose from.

Apple Car will obviously be innovative, but the idea that it will become a mainstream product is ridiculous. The second-hand car market is the most logical choice for most people.
 
I have access to the full interview. Here are the important parts - translated by the amazing, Germany-based AI service Deepl https://www.deepl.com/translator

---

Are you still a fan of Tesla pioneer Elon Musk?

He changed the industry with Tesla. Tesla is now our main competitor in the electric world. I think it's good that Tesla is coming to Germany. Competition is good for us, and we are embracing it with our Trinity project in Wolfsburg. The conversion at our corporate headquarters will revolutionize the location. Competition is an advantage of location, as a look at southern Germany shows: Audi, Porsche, BMW and Daimler are all located within a few hundred kilometers of each other, and they chase the best people away from each other, driving each other to peak performance. Something like this could happen in the north between Tesla in Brandenburg and VW in Wolfsburg.

IG Metall boss Jörg Hofmann can no longer hear the praise for Tesla: They should first adhere to German labor law and collectively agreed wages. Do you envy Elon Musk for not having to take a works council into account?

If you start with a blank sheet of paper, you always have an advantage. However, I firmly expect that IG Metall, with its powerful position in Germany, will ensure that Tesla also has to ensure fair working conditions and that we get equal opportunities with Tesla.

Apple is even more powerful than Tesla: Will the iPhone manufacturer soon be your toughest competitor?

To be honest, I expected Apple to get into the car business sooner. It's a very logical step, because Apple has the expertise for the new automotive world: batteries, software and design - Apple has all that, plus practically endless financial resources. Nevertheless, we're not afraid: the automotive industry is not a typical tech sector, it can't be taken over in a sweep. Apple will not succeed overnight.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
 
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