Following a report today that Apple was hiring experts from the automotive industry for a new research lab, The Wall Street Journal adds to the story claiming Apple has several hundred employees working on an Apple-branded electric car:
Apple has several hundred employees working secretly toward creating an Apple-branded electric vehicle, according to people familiar with the matter. They said the project, code-named “Titan,†has an initial design of a vehicle that resembles a minivan, one of these people said.
The report adds that CEO Tim Cook approved the project close to a year ago with product design Vice President Steve Zadesky, a former Ford executive, leading the group. The news lines up with rumors that Apple is working on something that will “give Tesla a run for its money.â€
Mirroring other recent reports that Apple was poaching experts from the automotive industry, WSJ notes that Zadesky “was given permission to create a 1,000-person team and poach employees from different parts of the company.â€Â Earlier today the Financial Times reported that Apple has hired president and CEO of Mercedes-Benz Research Development Johann Jungwirth, along with other auto industry execs, to work at a new, secretive automotive research lab. Apple has also been locked in a poaching war with Tesla, attempting to lure away that company’s employees with big bonuses.
Adding to that, the report from the WSJ says the location of the lab is just a few miles from Apple’s HQ in Cupertino and currently includes employees working on “robotics, metals and materials consistent with automobile manufacturing.â€
In addition to the new hires and research lab, the report claims Apple has met with contract manufacturers that produce high-end vehicles. Several minivans leased to Apple with camera arrays and other equipment have also been spotted in some major cities over the past few months.
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IMO the only reason for Apple to get into this is if the have a new battery tech up their sleeves. Something *different* from Tesla and al the rest.
What makes you think it has to do with batteries only? Why not buy Tesla for their CEO and the staff full of smart engineers that Apple is losing lately?
Furthermore, it could be argued that the whole point of Teslas cars is that they are NOT “innovative.†Most electric cars that have been manufactured and sold previously, used innovative styling or construction methods, or materials that are not typically used in cars and were thus only saleable to geeky eco-warriors.
The whole point of a Tesla is that it’s a luxury “sports†or performance car (or sedan), that is more or less indistinguishable from a “regular†luxury car. In other words, other than the fact that it’s electric, it’s supposed to be pretty much 100% swappable with your average Lexus or Mercedes or whatever. That’s their whole raison d’être.
I don’t see how Apple can outdo Tesla here, they’re not working against competitors who doesn’t seem to know what they’re doing in terms of experience. Tesla knows exactly about the car experience, look at their stores, customer-focused methods to drive their sales.
But, I have been surprised by Apple in the past, so we’ll see. I just wish they’d focus on their QA instead.
If they instead make something like Tesla, this is how you will know that they have gone off the rails, because “luxury sedans for rich Californians†ain’t gonna change anything, ever.
My guess is this is still for employees and. It the general,public.
Taken out of hobby status and given a truly 21st century UI which makes since for TV with apps, an App Store, new and extremely simple, yet sophisticated input methods (along with the obvious Siri integration), and an innovative and groundbreaking content delivery solution to take an extremely archaic, clunky, horrific UI/GUI TV experience, into the future. Handoff your content from device to device seamlessly, picking up where you left off. It would also be a central hub for homekit which your iPhone would talk to while you were away from home, and the TV would control all of your connected homekit devices. A little more crazy thought to add on: it would also be a wireless router which could beam content, to multiple, smaller TV Pods around your home which are connected to other TVs. These could be controlled via a remote/Siri/iPhone/iPad/Watch, and allow you to view content around the house, on other TVs. Okay I’m done lol