Can Apple continue to write myths with "Titan"?
As Apple’s much-watched self-driving car plan, the “Titan” project seems to have made a breakthrough. On December 10, some media reported that Apple's Apple Car has established a factory in the United States, a production plan, and preliminary technology and specifications. It has begun cooperation negotiations with the upstream and downstream of the global automotive electronics supply chain, which has been evaluated for a long time. It is estimated that it will be launched in 2024. -Apple Car will be unveiled in 2025. At the same time as this news was exposed, Apple was working with supply chain partner TSMC to develop a self-driving car chip for the "Apple Car".
Just yesterday, it was reported that Apple has handed over its self-driving car department to the leadership of John Gianandria, a senior executive in artificial intelligence.
In fact, Apple’s “Titan” self-driving car plan has long been known to the outside world. As Steve Jobs’ last legacy to Apple, the outside world has been paying attention to the progress of the plan.
Apple’s “Titan”
“We have the platform to design a car, and we will build a car in the near future.” After the success of the iPhone, Apple founder Jobs once promised: "A car has a battery, a computer, an engine and a mechanical structure. The iPhone also has these things, and they even have engines."
However, before the "Titan" arrived, Jobs had already Passed away suddenly on October 5, 2011.
However, the Times reported that Jobs had left Apple a product roadmap for the next four years during his lifetime. It is rumored that the Apple Watch and Airpods that we are now familiar with are on this "legacy list". According to time calculation, most of the products on the list may have been released, and the "Titan" project has become Jobs's last legacy to the world.
In fact, the "Titan" plan was not implemented just today. Apple launched the program as early as 2014. Also in 2014, Apple released Carplay, its first product since entering the automotive industry.
In 2016, due to issues such as technology research and development and leadership and management, the "Titan" plan was frustrated, and Apple began to transform the initial vehicle development plan into autonomous driving research and development.
In June 2017, Apple CEO Tim Cook acknowledged the existence of the "Titan" self-driving car program for the first time in an interview with Bloomberg. But Cook emphasized at the time: "Autonomous driving is the mother of all artificial intelligence projects, and it is also a core technology that we consider very important." Since then, the "Titan" plan has been showing off its autonomous driving projects more often.
But at the same time, Apple does not seem to have given up on the development of the entire vehicle. Relevant documents show that since 2017, Apple has applied for nearly a hundred related patents, some of which clearly exceed the scope of autonomous driving. For example, automatically configuring a definable interior environment, a sports seat system, turning the car's windshield into an AR-HUD screen and even a drowning escape system.
Therefore, it is generally believed that Apple has never given up on the development of the entire vehicle project. Katy Huberty, a senior analyst at Morgan Stanley, pointed out in the report that Project Titan is by no means an advanced version of Carplay. Only in this way can Apple achieve more flexible control over hardware and software and provide users with Provide more services.
Jobs’ “Closed Loop”
“Those who really take software seriously should make their own hardware.” In 2007, at the launch of the first-generation iPhone, Jobs cited the computer graphics interface The classic judgment of pioneer Alan Kay.
It is also under this methodology that Jobs has created legendary products for the world generation after generation.
In 1984, Apple launched the first-generation Macintosh computer (Macintosh), and with it, Jobs first widely applied the graphical user interface to personal computers.
Its convenient operability has attracted countless imitators, and among them, the most well-known to the outside world is Bill Gates' Windows operating system.
In 1996, after Jobs returned to Apple, he proposed the concept of "digital hub". It is under this concept that the iPod, iPhone and iPad came out one after another. The reason why they are regarded as epoch-making hardware products is inseparable from the huge support of supporting software such as iTunes Store and App Store.
Especially with the advent of the App Store, the iPhone opened the door to the smartphone era in one fell swoop, and Nokia was swept into the dustbin of history without doing anything wrong.
It can be seen that whether it is the Macintosh computer in the PC era or the iPod, iPhone and iPad in the digital hub era, Apple in the Steve Jobs era has always been committed to creating an ecosystem that combines software and hardware. closed loop. And this has become a major way for Apple to stand out and survive.
Today, the electrification and intelligence of the automobile industry have become unstoppable. As the leader, Tesla’s market value has exceeded 600 billion US dollars, which is higher than the sum of Toyota, Volkswagen, Daimler and BMW. Tesla's "moat" is very similar to Apple's, that is, the simultaneous development of software and hardware. Whether it is the entire vehicle, in-vehicle system or autonomous driving, Musk goes hand in hand and is also building his own closed loop for travel.
Some analysts believe that in the field of travel, it may not be long before Apple and Tesla collide with the Earth, because Ming-Chi Kuo, an analyst at Tianfeng Securities, also predicted this year that Apple will be in 2023. - Launching a car in 2025 would give Apple another potential star product, and the car is its biggest and boldest project yet. Ming-Chi Kuo has always been regarded as the "Apple prophet" by the outside world. He has accurate predictions about the layout and even the release time of Apple products. As Steve Jobs' last legacy, whether "Titan" can allow Apple to compete with Tesla can only be left to history to test.
This article comes from the author of Autohome Chejiahao and does not represent the views and positions of Autohome.