Katie Marsal
In the latest high-profile claim surrounding Apple's rumored electric car project, Reuters on Saturday cited sources who believe the company has been interacting with automotive suppliers and car manufactures in an attempt to learn how to develop an autonomous car.
People familiar with the project are saying Apple is focused on designing an entire vehicle, not just automotive software or individual components. The company is said to be picking the brains of experts in the automotive field, but has expressed no interest in combustion engine technology or conventional manufacturing methods.
Instead, an auto industry source is telling Reuters that Apple is primarily focused at this time on the "software game."
"It's all about autonomous driving," that person say, explaining that there is big money to be made from a software operating system for a self-driving vehicle, in addition to supportive services for autonomous driving like high-definition mapping, car-sharing and electric car recharging services.
It's suggested that Apple may take a similar approach with automobiles that it did with Apple Watch, whereby it consulted Swiss watchmakers early in the process but ultimately pursued a go-it-alone strategy and turned to poaching talent from top watchmaking brands.
The report comes on the heels of a similar claims Friday by other major news outlets, including one from the Wall Street Journal stating that Apple has codenamed the project "Titan," and that "several hundred" employees are part of the development team.
A few hours earlier in the day, a similar missive from the Financial Times claimed that Apple is operating a "top-secret research lab" staffed with automotive executives, including former Mercedes-Benz R&D chief Johann Jungwirth, who joined Apple as a Mac systems engineering leader last fall.
But in its report Saturday, Reuters cited a spokesman for Daimler (the parent company of Mercedes-Benz) as saying that the team of engineers which developed an autonomous car for Mercedes-Benz remains largely intact, and that Jungwirth mainly specialized in integrating smartphone functionality and developing advanced user experiences when he was with the car maker.
Meanwhile, there have also been reports that Apple design chief Jony Ive has been personally involved in recruiting top automotive executives, with Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently revealing that Apple has tried "very hard" to poach engineers from the electric carmaker, offering $250,000 bonuses and 60 percent pay raises.
As more voices add to the chorus of reports on what Apple will or won't do in the automotive industry, readers can review earlier reports and trace the breadcrumb trail on our Apple Car topics page.
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
Chip Loder
Malcolm Owen
185 Comments
From the link: "A spokesman for Daimler (DAIGn.DE) on Saturday said that the team of engineers which developed the Mercedes-Benz autonomous car remains intact and that Jungwirth was mainly specialized in integrating smartphone functionality and developing advanced user experiences. According to Jungwirth's Linkedin profile he joined Apple in September. At Daimler his responsibilities from March 2009 to September 2014 included overseeing Connected Car & UI Telematics, Autonomous Driving, Advanced User Experience Design, Powertrain & eDrive, Advanced Exterior Design and Mercedes Benz style, group research and regulatory affairs, the profile said."
So far I have read 4 different assumptions with this [I]news[/I]. [LIST=1] [*] Completely false rumor [*] Apple is trying to make CarPlay (or its successor) better. [*] Apple wants to control the entire dashboard [*] Apple is making their own car [/LIST] It seems unlikely it's completely false, and the arguments for their minivans having gear more inline with self-driving cars over LidAR-based street-level mapping have won me over. So… [LIST] [*] Can Apple make a self-driving car [U]without[/U] building their own car? [*] Would it behoove Apple to get control of the dashboard and other "computers" on-board without directly competing with the major car makers? [*] Could a threat of competing directly [I]against[/I] help make the car makers more agreeable to working [I]with[/I] Apple? [/LIST]
[quote name="SolipsismY" url="/t/184795/apple-reportedly-learning-how-to-develop-self-driving-electric-cars#post_2676205"]So far I have read 4 different assumptions with this [I]news[/I]. [LIST=1] [*] Completely false rumor [*] Apple is trying to make CarPlay (or its successor) better. [*] Apple wants to control the entire dashboard [*] Apple is making their own car [/LIST] It seems unlikely it's completely false, and the arguments for their minivans having gear more inline with self-driving cars over LidAR-based street-level mapping have won me over. So… [LIST] [*] Can Apple make a self-driving car [U]without[/U] building their own car? [*] Would it behoove Apple to get control of the dashboard and other "computers" on-board without directly competing with the major car makers? [*] Could a threat of competing help make them more agreeable to working with Apple? [/LIST][/quote] Seems to me the most likely scenario involves Apple testing integration and performance issues across all kinds of vehicles with CarPlay. I just cannot see them actually attempting to get into car manufacturing and sales in the US. Might make more sense in Asia or India?
[quote name="SpamSandwich" url="/t/184795/apple-reportedly-learning-how-to-develop-self-driving-electric-cars#post_2676208"]Seems to me the most likely scenario involves Apple testing integration and performance issues across all kinds of vehicles with CarPlay.[/QUOTE] 1) I think that's the most likely scenario with the given information, but I would still love for them to build a concept car that they show off at a car show. I bet Ive has more than a few ideas given the cars he owns. 2) Of all the cars that would probably have iPhone owners and want CarPlay, Tesla is absent from supporting their system. I wonder if Apple sees Tesla resistance to CarPlay and their very large touchscreen in the center console as a potential warning that other car makers could follow the "hip" car maker's lead with advanced tech that pushes Apple out of the mix. If that's the case, I'd think a long-term solution to create your own system (even if that means your own car) would be something worth investigating thoroughly. [QUOTE]I just cannot see them actually attempting to get into car manufacturing and sales in the US. Might make more sense in Asia or India?[/quote] I can certainly see it now that Tesla has shown how it's done, but I'm not holding my breath.
It seems unlikely it's completely false, and the arguments for their minivans having gear more inline with self-driving cars over LidAR-based street-level mapping have won me over.
I'm of the opinion that not only is Apple "taking pictures" a la Google's Street View, but they're 3D mapping as well. Basically, "FlyOver" but from the ground. Imagine being in FlyOver mode and swooping down to the street level and being able to see a fairly detailed store front or house or whatever.
However, they could also be using these vehicles to collect data to build a driving simulator of sorts, especially if they wanted to design software for autonomous driving or even just assisted driving. I kind of believe their acquisition of PrimeSense would come into play here, especially object detection and recognition in 3D space.