A few days ago, according to foreign media reports, a Taiwanese manufacturer executive anonymously revealed that the long-rumored Apple electric car will be released at least two years in advance and is expected to be released in the third quarter of 2021.
The report also stated that the Taiwanese manufacturer is preparing to increase production of "Apple Car" parts in the second quarter of 2021, adding that Apple has secretly tested several models in California. Prototype car, Apple car is expected to be launched in September 2021. At the same time, Apple is currently working with TSMC to jointly develop self-driving chips.
In addition, there are reports that Apple’s autonomous driving department has made personnel adjustments, and AI veteran John Giannandrea will take over and be fully responsible for the subsequent development of Apple’s autonomous driving system.
Apple has been rumored to build a car for a long time
In fact, news about Apple building a car has been around for a long time.
In 2013, Apple announced its "iOS? in the Car" project at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC).
In 2014, Apple officially released an in-car system renamed CarPlay, and Apple’s partners also displayed new models equipped with CarPlay at the Geneva Motor Show. In the same year, Apple CEO Cook visited BMW's core factory in Leipzig to learn how to produce electric cars like the BMW i3 series. During the period, he even talked about cooperation, but the result was nothing.
Immediately afterwards, Apple announced that the product it would build was called a product that could "replace Detroit and destroy Detroit" and named the project team "Titan." Moreover, Apple also poached people everywhere, and soon established a team of more than a thousand people.
However, the same situation that many Internet companies encounter when building cars is that building a car is obviously not as simple as building an iPhone. The Titan project is not progressing very quickly, and according to people familiar with the matter, there are serious internal differences among Apple’s top executives regarding the project’s research and development direction, which has resulted in the Titan project not progressing smoothly. In 2016, Steve Zadesky, the head of the Titan project, announced his resignation.
In 2019, Apple announced that it would lay off 200 employees in the self-driving car department and transfer some teams to projects in other departments of the company to support machine learning and other initiatives. In this regard, many industry insiders and fans: Apple’s car-building plan seems to have been shattered. But what people didn’t expect was that in just one year, Apple regrouped and launched a car-building plan. And judging from the reliability of this information, it seems that Apple Car is really coming this time!
Why is Apple obsessed with building cars?
Apple is extremely persistent in building cars! And there is no reason why Apple is so obsessed with building cars.
First of all, Apple has taken a fancy to the current development of the automotive industry. As we all know, the automobile industry is now undergoing the baptism of the new four modernizations, and the era of electric smart cars is coming. For example, in China, the new energy vehicle market has become the core driving force for passenger car retail growth; in Europe, the electric vehicle market is expected to double year-on-year this year, exceeding 1.1 million units. At the same time, in terms of policy, the "China 2035 New Energy Vehicle Development Plan" recently issued by the State Council of China clearly stated that China's new energy vehicle penetration rate will reach 20% by 2025, and pure electric vehicles will become the new sales vehicle in 2035. mainstream; the Japanese government plans to ban the sale of fuel vehicles in 2035; European governments have also formulated timetables for phasing out fuel vehicles...
It can be seen that the electric vehicle industry is currently experiencing an explosion. In the "wind period", for Apple, if it doesn't get on board, it will be difficult for it to have a chance to take off.
In addition to being optimistic about the future development of smart electric vehicles, another very important point is that Apple is not short of money.
No one can shake Apple’s throne as the “King of Cash”. Generations of iPhones, pads and other products have brought Apple a steady stream of cash flow.
At the end of 2018, Apple's cash reserves reached more than 230 billion US dollars, which is 1.56 trillion yuan when converted into RMB.
What is the concept? It is understood that when Qoros Automobile started from scratch, its investment was about 15 billion yuan, which is 2.5 billion US dollars, which is only one percent of Apple's cash flow! In other words, even in a capital-intensive industry like automobiles, Apple can invest directly at any time without even spending a fraction of its own cash.
Moreover, Apple has invested US$19 billion in autonomous driving research and development this year, while the global automotive industry’s annual R&D expenditure is less than US$100 billion, accounting for one-fifth. It can be seen that Apple is not only not short of money to build cars, but also willing to spend money.
In short, for Apple to choose a huge market with high value and extremely high entry barriers, and to "effectively consume" its own funds, the automotive industry is almost the best choice. Therefore, it is not difficult to understand why Apple is so obsessed with building cars.
What are the advantages of Apple building a car?
For car-making, dreams and money alone are not enough. Long-term R&D investment and technological accumulation are also required. In the past few years, Apple's high investment has obviously resulted in abundant output, and has formed the following advantages.
1. Chip. With the popularization of autonomous driving and Internet of Vehicles technologies, more and more car companies are realizing the importance of "core", and Tesla's strongest part is also here. As an Internet technology company, Apple itself has accumulated technology behind it. In addition to the good system optimization, one of the important reasons why Apple's mobile phones are smooth is its powerful processing chip, which is far ahead of its competitors by a generation.
It is understood that Apple has also begun research and development in automotive chips, and the performance is not bad. You know, in the era of the new four modernizations of automobiles, you can win decisively as long as you master two "cores". One is a battery cell and the other is a supercomputing chip. Batteries solve the problem of electric drive, and chips solve the problems of intelligence and networking. At present, Apple has mastered the chip, and it can be said that the future is bright.
2. Intelligent. In the future, automobiles will compete with intelligence, and the main manifestations of intelligence are cars and autonomous driving. As we all know, Apple has its own operating system. Both iOS and OS have their own ecosystem and are deeply loved by consumers around the world. In addition, Apple Carplay has become a standard feature of many car manufacturers’ car systems. Therefore, for Apple, bringing users an easy-to-use and intelligent in-vehicle interconnection system is not a problem.
Autonomous driving. It is understood that Apple’s car project department has been applying for relevant patents in recent years. Since the transformation of autonomous driving systems in 2017, Apple has obtained more than 100 patents so far, the main patents involving autonomous driving. Therefore, Apple also has considerable technical reserves in autonomous driving.
3. Global purchasing capabilities. As we all know, automobile manufacturing technology has become more and more homogeneous. Technologies such as stamping, welding, painting, and final assembly no longer have a moat. Although Apple has never built a car, its car manufacturing technology and suppliers have been shared around the world. Currently, independent brands can improve the quality of their cars through procurement, and with Apple's global purchasing capabilities, there is no problem. Therefore, the manufacturing quality of Apple cars may have problems in the short term, but it is worth looking forward to in the long term.
4. Huge fans. Apple has a strong innovative spirit and ability. Like Tesla, it comes from Silicon Valley. The innovative spirit can bring endless energy and fans to Apple cars. Fans' pursuit of Apple's digital products is an example. I believe that fans of Apple mobile phones and computers will also pursue Apple cars.
Dianju summary:
In next year’s autumn conference, maybe we can really see the arrival of Apple cars. With the arrival of Apple cars, new car-making forces such as Tesla and NIO, and even traditional automobile companies, will undoubtedly face the strongest opponents in their current careers.
This article comes from the author of Autohome Chejiahao and does not represent the views and positions of Autohome.