Electric Apple Car: Myth or Reality?
Last year, Apple executive director Tim Cook said in an interview that the company is simultaneously conducting several new developments that are still being kept secret.
It seems that now one of these developments has ceased to be secret: Apple experts are working on their own electric vehicle project. This is reported by authoritative publications: The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times and Reuters. MacObserver reports that many Silicon Valley experts think the same.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the project is developing a vehicle design in a minivan form factor, and the project itself is called the Titan. Many other sources converge to the idea that Apple is developing not just technology, but a full-fledged car that may someday appear on the roads.
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And on Monday, a network got a video and a photo with a black minivan, in which cameras were installed on the roof, and the numbers belonged to Apple. Immediately followed the conclusion: Apple creates not just an electric car, but a self-driving electric car! Another conclusion was more modest: Apple just works on iPhone Maps and creates an analogue of Google Street View. All this caused even more questions than answers.
Maybe this successfully launched rumors? After all, it is known that Apple often confuses the public with its ambiguous actions.
For example, the company has repeatedly acted in this scenario: research reports were reported, but it never came to the appearance of the product. Of course, their financial capabilities make it possible to engage in non-binding research.
Now, the facts that were found out testify to more serious intentions. First, the number of employees working on the project is close to 1000.
There is evidence that Apple is luring employees from the Tesla car company.
And this is a year after Apple almost bought this company. Apple and Tesla then negotiated a possible cooperation, but did not come to a decision on joint plans.
Why did Apple abandon its intentions? Maybe they thought that they would not be able to get the profit they hoped for with Tesla? Or was it an attempt to get closer to the technology of the automotive industry, on which the Apple engineers were just beginning work? Maybe they originally intended to create something of their own and were looking for new ideas and talented personnel?
The latter is confirmed by the fact that Apple has employees who have worked in other automotive companies in the past. So, last year, Mark Newson, an industrial designer who had previously worked on a concept car for Ford, was accepted at Apple.
Johan Yungwirth, the former president and CEO of North America's Mercedes-Benz R & D, was also invited to the company.
The project manager was Steve Zadecki, who led design teams for the iPod and iPhone. But, again, in the past, he worked as an engineer at Ford Motors, and his experience has now acquired particular value.
Among other things, a recent meeting was held between Apple management and car manufacturers in Austria, in particular, with representatives of Magna International. What they talked about, while you can only guess.
However, besides finding new employees for the project, there are many other tasks associated not only with technological difficulties, but also with the assessment of the prospects for innovation in the automotive field and financial risks.
Apple has enough money to build its own car factory. Having $ 178 billion in a bank, it is easy to allocate a couple of billions for this, especially since the production of the same microprocessors cost the company 5 times more expensive. According to renowned mobile analyst Horace Didier, Apple's quarterly expenses on hardware and other equipment reached $ 4 billion before the last iPhone. Expenses for the next quarter increased by $ 3.2 billion, which is 60% more than last year. And such an increase in costs usually indicates plans to produce a large product.
If Apple continues in the same vein, then their car will be too expensive for most car owners. But, recalling the history of the company, it is easy to see that their past products entered the market as the most expensive in their category, but thanks to their unique qualities and competent marketing they gained popularity. A further reduction in prices contributed to the law of Moore.
In the automotive industry, these are difficult times. Ford, one of the most successful companies in the United States, received only $ 835 million in net profit for the last quarter. Compare this figure with Apple's record $ 18 billion in revenue. How is Apple going to make huge profits on their cars?
Moreover, Moore's law does not work for the automotive industry: car batteries do not double their capacity and do not cut the price twice every 18 months.
It can be assumed that it will be possible to create a prototype of a self-driving electric vehicle. But will he be tested on real roads? Lee Gomez, a former technical writer for the Wall Street Journal, believes that the idea of ​​an autonomously driven car breaks down about weather conditions and unforeseen road situations, which, unfortunately, occur more often than we would like.
Johan Yungvirt and other experts who were invited to Apple are working on the CarPlay project. During the implementation of this project, the problems of integrating iOS technologies into cars are being solved. And the mysterious “black minivans” are really part of the Apple Maps project.
Cars have always been attractive. For many years they have managed to go from the usual means of transportation to the attribute of the status of wealthy people. Therefore, the very idea that Apple Car will once appear makes the company even more popular.
In the meantime, everything goes on as usual: ideas are generated, innovations are being introduced, projects enter the market, remain afloat or burn out, but open the way for others. So, it is not so important who is the first to launch an autonomously driven car, what profit it will receive. So far, Apple has not done this. Since it is not very predictable, we can only wait.
It seems that now one of these developments has ceased to be secret: Apple experts are working on their own electric vehicle project. This is reported by authoritative publications: The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times and Reuters. MacObserver reports that many Silicon Valley experts think the same.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the project is developing a vehicle design in a minivan form factor, and the project itself is called the Titan. Many other sources converge to the idea that Apple is developing not just technology, but a full-fledged car that may someday appear on the roads.
')
And on Monday, a network got a video and a photo with a black minivan, in which cameras were installed on the roof, and the numbers belonged to Apple. Immediately followed the conclusion: Apple creates not just an electric car, but a self-driving electric car! Another conclusion was more modest: Apple just works on iPhone Maps and creates an analogue of Google Street View. All this caused even more questions than answers.
Maybe this successfully launched rumors? After all, it is known that Apple often confuses the public with its ambiguous actions.
For example, the company has repeatedly acted in this scenario: research reports were reported, but it never came to the appearance of the product. Of course, their financial capabilities make it possible to engage in non-binding research.
Now, the facts that were found out testify to more serious intentions. First, the number of employees working on the project is close to 1000.
There is evidence that Apple is luring employees from the Tesla car company.
And this is a year after Apple almost bought this company. Apple and Tesla then negotiated a possible cooperation, but did not come to a decision on joint plans.
Why did Apple abandon its intentions? Maybe they thought that they would not be able to get the profit they hoped for with Tesla? Or was it an attempt to get closer to the technology of the automotive industry, on which the Apple engineers were just beginning work? Maybe they originally intended to create something of their own and were looking for new ideas and talented personnel?
The latter is confirmed by the fact that Apple has employees who have worked in other automotive companies in the past. So, last year, Mark Newson, an industrial designer who had previously worked on a concept car for Ford, was accepted at Apple.
Johan Yungwirth, the former president and CEO of North America's Mercedes-Benz R & D, was also invited to the company.
The project manager was Steve Zadecki, who led design teams for the iPod and iPhone. But, again, in the past, he worked as an engineer at Ford Motors, and his experience has now acquired particular value.
Among other things, a recent meeting was held between Apple management and car manufacturers in Austria, in particular, with representatives of Magna International. What they talked about, while you can only guess.
However, besides finding new employees for the project, there are many other tasks associated not only with technological difficulties, but also with the assessment of the prospects for innovation in the automotive field and financial risks.
Apple has enough money to build its own car factory. Having $ 178 billion in a bank, it is easy to allocate a couple of billions for this, especially since the production of the same microprocessors cost the company 5 times more expensive. According to renowned mobile analyst Horace Didier, Apple's quarterly expenses on hardware and other equipment reached $ 4 billion before the last iPhone. Expenses for the next quarter increased by $ 3.2 billion, which is 60% more than last year. And such an increase in costs usually indicates plans to produce a large product.
If Apple continues in the same vein, then their car will be too expensive for most car owners. But, recalling the history of the company, it is easy to see that their past products entered the market as the most expensive in their category, but thanks to their unique qualities and competent marketing they gained popularity. A further reduction in prices contributed to the law of Moore.
But is it really that simple?
In the automotive industry, these are difficult times. Ford, one of the most successful companies in the United States, received only $ 835 million in net profit for the last quarter. Compare this figure with Apple's record $ 18 billion in revenue. How is Apple going to make huge profits on their cars?
Moreover, Moore's law does not work for the automotive industry: car batteries do not double their capacity and do not cut the price twice every 18 months.
It can be assumed that it will be possible to create a prototype of a self-driving electric vehicle. But will he be tested on real roads? Lee Gomez, a former technical writer for the Wall Street Journal, believes that the idea of ​​an autonomously driven car breaks down about weather conditions and unforeseen road situations, which, unfortunately, occur more often than we would like.
There is a simpler explanation for the rumors around Apple Car
Johan Yungvirt and other experts who were invited to Apple are working on the CarPlay project. During the implementation of this project, the problems of integrating iOS technologies into cars are being solved. And the mysterious “black minivans” are really part of the Apple Maps project.
Why can such rumors benefit companies?
Cars have always been attractive. For many years they have managed to go from the usual means of transportation to the attribute of the status of wealthy people. Therefore, the very idea that Apple Car will once appear makes the company even more popular.
In the meantime, everything goes on as usual: ideas are generated, innovations are being introduced, projects enter the market, remain afloat or burn out, but open the way for others. So, it is not so important who is the first to launch an autonomously driven car, what profit it will receive. So far, Apple has not done this. Since it is not very predictable, we can only wait.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/286002/
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