Apple Seen in Vehicle Supply Chains, but It May Be Exploring Taxi Service or Car Platform Instead

[MacRumors]

Apple is intensely researching all aspects of car engineering and manufacturing, but there are growing questions around what form Apple's vehicle project may take, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.

Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Peter Fintl, the director of technology and innovation for Capgemini Engineering Germany, explained that Apple's movement in vehicle supply chains is noticeable.

We have seen enough echoes in the supply chain that we know Apple is really looking into every detail of car engineering and car manufacturing. But nobody knows if what Apple creates will be a car or a tech platform or a mobility service.

The report suggests that Apple's car project may not actually culminate in a consumer-purchasable complete vehicle. Instead, Apple may be looking to leverage its software and chip design expertise to create a kind of next-generation vehicle platform for other manufacturers to use.

That being said, this option conflicts with Apple's general desire to vertically integrate the full stack "whenever possible" and "control every aspect of the user experience." Even so, according to the Wall Street Journal, there is "no clear indication" that Apple intends to use its philosophy of vertical integration for its vehicle project.

If Tesla is the model here, it's unclear why Apple's executives would want to endure the tortuous process of building the manufacturing, testing and service capacities this path would require.

If making a vehicle platform is unlikely to fit in with the company's ethos or objectives, and making an entire car is impractical and likely to be subject to fierce competition, the other option that the report suggests is an Apple mobility company, such as a self-driving taxi service.

Johannes Deichmann, a partner at management consulting firm McKinsey whose expertise is software and electronics in automobiles, suggested:

Apple and others could design and commission vehicles that bear their branding, and operate as part of a service they provide, with no trace of the actual manufacturer on them.

Such a service would allow Apple to capture market share while the robot-taxi service industry is still in its infancy, and compete with the likes of GM's Cruise and Amazon's Zoox.

While it is highly speculative, the report indicates that Apple's vehicle project has not yet penetrated the supply chain deeply enough to reveal the nature of the car itself, and concludes with the comment that "it's quite possible that Apple will end up spending billions on attempts to develop an electric car without ever releasing a product."

Article Link: Apple Seen in Vehicle Supply Chains, but It May Be Exploring Taxi Service or Car Platform Instead

 

[jonnysods]

I forgot about this project.

 

[appleguy123]

This is what I have always thought Apple was going to do. I don’t think they’re interested in selling cars and building the infrastructure to support them for each customer for 20+ years. They’re interested in printing money by beating Uber to a self driving taxi service that actually has its cost paid by the users and not venture capitalist speculation.

 

[Localcelebrity]

Anyone thinking Apple wouldn't be interested in the supply chain for a car doesn't understand Tim Cook.

 

[Scipster]

Absolutely car-razy! Everyone is looking forward to the day when they can drive an AppleCar, not hire some Uber that has CarPlay. Just buy out Ford or GM with all that cash on hand and be done with it.

 

[Art Mark]

Transportation/car as service. You pay monthly for acmes to a set number of hours of use or trips. You have access to perhaps 2 or 3 different styles types. The car comes when you 'call it' and takes you where you want to go. It's a service for large metro areas where owning a car is a giant pain in the butt.

 

[deebinem]

Transportation/car as service. You pay monthly for acmes to a set number of hours of use or trips. You have access to perhaps 2 or 3 different styles types. The car comes when you 'call it' and takes you where you want to go. It's a service for large metro areas where owning a car is a giant pain in the butt.

Why stop there? It seems that Revel is crushing the electric scooter (the sit on kind, not the stand on kind) market here in NYC. Part of the reason I don't do the Uber/Lyft thing is related to the ridiculous traffic at times.

 

[1258186]

I’m not convinced Apple will ever make a car and I don’t think the established car makers will want to partner with them because Apple will demand too much control and take most of the profits.

 

[Bluetoot-]

Transportation/car as service. You pay monthly for acmes to a set number of hours of use or trips. You have access to perhaps 2 or 3 different styles types. The car comes when you 'call it' and takes you where you want to go. It's a service for large metro areas where owning a car is a giant pain in the butt.

I think the service idea is where Apple would go with this, unfortunately.

Rent your house, your car, your phone, your furniture, your dog.

 

[thebeans]

Apple is intensely researching all aspects of car engineering and manufacturing, but there are growing questions around what form Apple's vehicle project may take, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.

Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Peter Fintl, the director of technology and innovation for Capgemini Engineering Germany, explained that Apple's movement in vehicle supply chains is noticeable.The report suggests that Apple's car project may not actually culminate in a consumer-purchasable complete vehicle. Instead, Apple may be looking to leverage its software and chip design expertise to create a kind of next-generation vehicle platform for other manufacturers to use.

That being said, this option conflicts with Apple's general desire to vertically integrate the full stack "whenever possible" and "control every aspect of the user experience." Even so, according to the Wall Street Journal, there is "no clear indication" that Apple intends to use its philosophy of vertical integration for its vehicle project.If making a vehicle platform is unlikely to fit in with the company's ethos or objectives, and making an entire car is impractical and likely to be subject to fierce competition, the other option that the report suggests is an Apple mobility company, such as a self-driving taxi service.

Johannes Deichmann, a partner at management consulting firm McKinsey whose expertise is software and electronics in automobiles, suggested:Such a service would allow Apple to capture market share while the robot-taxi service industry is still in its infancy, and compete with the likes of GM's Cruise and Amazon's Zoox.

While it is highly speculative, the report indicates that Apple's vehicle project has not yet penetrated the supply chain deeply enough to reveal the nature of the car itself, and concludes with the comment that "it's quite possible that Apple will end up spending billions on attempts to develop an electric car without ever releasing a product."

Article Link: Apple Seen in Vehicle Supply Chains, but It May Be Exploring Taxi Service or Car Platform Instead

I really hope Apple does not try to become an automobile manufacturer. They have no expertise in that and it will fail miserably. We don’t need another car maker. We have enough. There is nothing they can offer that will be of enough value to justify the process.

 

[1258186]

Everyone is looking forward to the day when they can drive an AppleCar

Not everyone.

 

[Mac Fly (film)]

The report suggests that Apple's car project may not actually culminate in a consumer-purchasable complete vehicle. Instead, Apple may be looking to leverage its software and chip design expertise to create a kind of next-generation vehicle platform for other manufacturers to use.

Stop with this misinformation. They can't get a car company to agree to build their car, so they'll get them to agree to replace the brains of their car and be beholden to them? Apple? Really? It's a car, get over yourselves. These analysts are clueless.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

Absolutely car-razy! Everyone is looking forward to the day when they can drive an AppleCar, not hire some Uber that has CarPlay. Just buy out Ford or GM with all that cash on hand and be done with it.

The issue is that buying Ford or GM gives you an enormous amount of useless baggage and still leaves you enormously behind the market leader (Tesla).

 

[Rogifan]

I read this article. It’s nothing more than speculation.

 

[Rogifan]

The report suggests that Apple's car project may not actually culminate in a consumer-purchasable complete vehicle. Instead, Apple may be looking to leverage its software and chip design expertise to create a kind of next-generation vehicle platform for other manufacturers to use.

Stop with this misinformation. They can't get a car company to agree to build their car, so they'll get them to agree to replace the brains of their car and be beholden to them? Apple? Really? It's a car, get over yourselves. These analysts are clueless.

If an automaker wouldn’t partner with Apple on an actual car why would they partner with Apple on a car ‘platform’? Apple is never going to be a piece of technology inside someone else’s product.

 

[bradman83]

The report suggests that Apple's car project may not actually culminate in a consumer-purchasable complete vehicle. Instead, Apple may be looking to leverage its software and chip design expertise to create a kind of next-generation vehicle platform for other manufacturers to use.

Stop with this misinformation. They can't get a car company to agree to build their car, so they'll get them to agree to replace the brains of their car and be beholden to them? Apple? Really? It's a car, get over yourselves. These analysts are clueless.

Auto makers are increasingly open to technology partnerships with other companies. Ford, for example, announced that its next generation of its Sync infotainment platform rolling out mid-decade will be based on a heavily customized version of Android with deep ties to Google services. Volvo is also likely to take a similar step after deploying a customized Android solution in its Polestar vehicle division. (The new Android-based infotainment OS that Ford is deploying will still support CarPlay.)

 

[huge_apple_fangirl]

If Apple makes a car, it will be a standalone electric vehicle that you can purchase. That’s how Apple does it. They sell premium hardware. The Tesla model has been a success, the issue has been manufacturing, which won’t be a problem for Apple, since they’ll contract it out. Foxconn is starting an EV manufacturing business, who better to partner with Apple than their longtime iPhone assembler?

The real question is if Apple even wants to be in the car business at all, given how different it is from their core market. But if they did want to enter it, they would surely make a standalone vehicle with an excellent in-car infotainment system and probably a few killer features. (That feature will not be autonomy. It’s not coming anytime soon, if ever.)

 

[LizKat]

I read this article. It’s nothing more than speculation.

It's fairly useless --if sometimes entertaining-- to second-guess Apple on stuff like this if it's part of their long game, and they do play a long game, even if we see the edges of it sometimes in placeholders. Does anyone remember that candybar iTunes ROKR "phone" they did with Motorola?

Everyone laughed or groaned at ROKR's music oriented limitations, even if it was a more than ok cellphone.

And then along came the iPhone. Yeah. "While we were sleeping"... or laughing... Apple was doing phones right.

Apple likes to bring stuff that we may have seen earlier in more primitive stages from other manufacturers... iPod, iPhone, iPad... and with most of those, when rumors started to leak out, Apple was dissing them and saying nah who would ever even want THAT?

For all we know Apple figures elegant taxis to the Moon --or Jupiter, hey: "think different"-- will come in handy sometime, and they're gonna file the rough edges off competition from the likes of Musk, Bezos etc.

In the meantime I wouldn't mind if they keep more of their nose to the grindstone on our "Bug or Feature??!" lists regarding their current apps and operating systems.

 

[anthogag]

Why would Apple make a "platform" for other manufacturers? I would say they'll make their own Apple electric vehicle. "Designed in California" and made by...

 

[EightBitJoe]

That being said, this option conflicts with Apple's general desire to vertically integrate the full stack "whenever possible" and "control every aspect of the user experience."

When you buy an automobile, you're not buying an object that was designed only for the brand/marquee whose logo is on the rear. I don't mean just outsourcing of parts or components; many mechanical, layout, technology, and engineering designs are considered "platforms" that are created by the company and shared among their subsidiaries.

It sounds like Apple is creating a framework that can be incorporated into individual manufacturer platforms, encompassing new standards, algorithms, Engine Control
Unit/Bus architecture, driver UI integration, etc.

In order to do that successfully -- hell, to be taken seriously -- they need to research every aspect of automobile design and manufacturing, even if they don't plan to make their own car.

Remember, this is the computer company that crashed and helped redefine the music, entertainment, and personal communications industry in small steps. That's no guarantee of success, but a hint as to their boldness in entering new sectors.

Which all leads me to disagree that this conflicts with their philosophy to vertically integrate and control the entire experience. This is their first attempts at doing just that.

 

[MK11]

This is what I have always thought Apple was going to do. I don’t think they’re interested in selling cars and building the infrastructure to support them for each customer for 20+ years. They’re interested in printing money by beating Uber to a self driving taxi service that actually has its cost paid by the users and not venture capitalist speculation.

Sure. You always thought that 🙄

 

[FightTheFuture]

I think the service idea is where Apple would go with this, unfortunately.

Rent your house, your car, your phone, your furniture, your dog.

Leasing/buying a car is the worst expense almost everyone endures. You pay so much for something that depreciates. You pay interest on something that depreciates. You pay insurance on something that depreciates. Think how much further retirement funds would be without car expense. Looking forward to a car service.

 

[Doomtomb]

This perspective shed some light on possible directions. It seems more unlikely Apple would compete with automanufacturers and instead compete with Tesla, Uber, Lyft, whoever on the service side. Maybe they would create vehicles but drivers would lease them from Apple so to keep the 'user-experience' more controlled.

 

[jz0309]

the rumors and speculations continue ... nothing really new nor concrete here ...

 

[1258186]

I don’t see how an Apple Car fits into their corporate strategy. The car business is traditionally low margin whereas Apple tends to focus on high margin products. Tesla has been going for years and has never made a profit selling cars. They only made a profit recently by selling carbon credits to other companies. Even the luxury car makers make a loss more often than a profit. Doesn’t make sense for Apple to enter this market.