Like Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster, rumors of an Apple automotive by no means appear to die. However not like Sasquatch and Nessie, no less than there have been varied verified sightings of Apple testing its self-driving expertise, albeit on manufacturing automobiles.
The thought of an Apple automotive has circulated since Steve Jobs’ demise greater than a decade in the past, with firm executives and board members revealing the revered firm co-founder’s imprecise imaginative and prescient for getting into the automotive enterprise. But it surely’s his successor and present Apple CEO Tim Prepare dinner who took the reins of the storied firm and steered growth of a automobile.
Prepare dinner greenlighted Challenge Titan in 2014 to construct an electrical automobile and introduced onboard auto trade veterans equivalent to former Ford government Doug Discipline, fellow Ford engineer Steve Zadesky and Mercedes-Benz North American R&D honcho Johann Jungwirth – who’ve all since left.
Prepare dinner even jetted to Germany in 2015 to satisfy with BMW brass, and Apple executives traveled to Leipzig to scrutinize the manufacturing of the automaker’s i3 EV.
The iCar rumor mill gained renewed momentum final week when it was revealed that Apple had employed 31-year Ford veteran Desi Ujkashevic, the most recent in a revolving door of automotive execs who’ve joined the corporate.
I gained’t element the tortured twists and turns of Challenge Titan because it’s been painstakingly documented by tech websites like AppleInsider. Suffice to say that regardless of hiring – and dropping – prime automotive expertise, Apple nonetheless isn’t making a automotive. And I imagine it could be an enormous mistake for Apple to construct a automotive and even have others construct it for them.
There are apparent drawbacks to getting concerned in a high-cost, low-margin enterprise that includes advanced provide chains, the necessity to help legacy merchandise with components and companies for many years, and essentially the most onerous regulation of virtually any trade. Distinction this with Apple’s present cash-cow enterprise growing and promoting services which have a extremely managed and contained provide chain, product lifespans of some years with speedy deliberate obsolescence, and a comparatively gentle regulatory load.
With a market cap of practically $2.5 trillion and a stash of greater than $200 billion in money, Apple has the sources to mount an assault on automotive incumbents – and even tackle Tesla. The timing is correct given the tectonic shift occurring within the auto trade, with the transition to electrification rewriting the principles of engagement and the rising significance of software program taking part in to Apple’s energy.
However stacks of cash and tech experience don’t translate into success in automotive. Simply ask Google, which tried – and failed – to construct its personal automotive a number of years in the past.
Pictured above, Google’s Firefly purpose-built self-driving automotive with no steering wheel or pedals was unveiled in 2014, and that very same 12 months Google lined up an all-start roster of automotive suppliers together with Bosch, Continental, Nvidia and Roush to construct 100 of the automobiles at a Detroit-area facility.
Whereas Google known as Firefly “a check platform” for its self-driving expertise, proof suggests the corporate deliberate to mass produce the automobile. I spoke with Samir Salman, CEO of Continental’s North American unit, on the time and he indicated that the mega provider was working with Google to “present our companies and information on the technical aspect in parts and in programs,” he stated. “We’re supplying brake programs, tires, and physique controller and inside electronics.”
However Waymo, the autonomous-vehicle expertise subsidiary Google created on the finish of 2016, mothballed Firefly and subsequently bought tens of hundreds of Chrysler Pacifica PHEV minivans and Jaguar I-Tempo EVs. It has since built-in its self-driving tech into the automobiles and turn into one of many first firms to function a totally autonomous ride-sharing service.
By 2018, Apple’s plans to construct an iCar have been lowered to a take care of Volkswagen to transform the automaker’s T6 Transporter vans into autonomous shuttles for workers on the firm’s new Silicon Valley campus. However even that plan fizzled since VW invested $2.6 billion in Ford-backed Argo AI, with its new ID. Buzz electrical minivan subsequently set to be a vessel for Argo’s self-driving tech.
Given all of the highs and low of Apple’s Challenge Titan, I’m stunned the corporate doesn’t view constructing automobiles as a quicksand cash pit – and that it could be finest to give attention to offering much-needed software program companies to the auto trade a la Apple CarPlay.
However Google beat Apple to the punch at that with its Android Automotive OS, which is gaining traction. Apart from, as annoying as Tesla-Stans may be, think about what it could be wish to take care of Apple Automobile fanboys and -girls?
