At the Geneva Motor Show in the same year, new models equipped with CarPlay were exhibited.
In 2014, Apple released the official version of IOS 7.1, which is the first major version update after the official release of IOS 7. Among them, Apple integrated CarPlay into the IOS ecosystem, and users’ IPhones can be connected to CarPlay. Cars, which can be controlled by SIrI voice, provide CarPlay with operating system support.
But CarPlay did not reach the level of intelligent system that Apple hoped for in the end. In essence, it is just a multimedia system connected to IOS.
The project “Project TItan” has hatched.
At the beginning of the plan, Apple’s goal was to design Mac and IPhone from the beginning, to build a completely subversive product from scratch, and to achieve a comprehensive lead in product design, use, and technology.
In order to successfully carry out this plan, Apple recruited troops everywhere. Currently known are recruiting Paul Fulgae, an expert in autonomous driving and machine vision who has developed the European Union’s automatic parking technology, and from high-tech battery company A123 Systems poached Mujib Iyaz, a researcher on lithium-ion battery technology, and recruited automotive experts such as Doug Bates, who has left Chrysler and was previously responsible for the company’s global vice president of quality control.
According to incomplete statistics, the TItan team recruited thousands of engineers within one year after its establishment, and even Apple’s chief designer joined it. However, after years of development and the continuous withdrawal of many leaders, the TItan plan did not reach a satisfactory level. Eventually, Apple narrowed the scope of the project and began a large number of layoffs.
After the TItan plan, Apple has no action, as if the plan to build a car has been abandoned by Apple.
Until 2017, Apple was qualified for the autonomous driving test granted by the California Department of Transportation DMV.
In the same year, Apple CEOOfficial TIm Cook revealed at the WWDC Global Developers Conference that Apple is currently focusing on autonomous driving technology in the automotive industry. When Apple first announced “TItan”, some investors evaluated that it could not bring more than 10% of the profits to Apple. This is not comparable to the profits brought by other projects in Apple’s hands. Investors who are accustomed to high-profit profits Not optimistic, so Apple eventually focused its project on autonomous driving systems.
Is Apple giving up the whole car? Obviously not.
German media has reported that Apple has established a secret laboratory in Berlin, Germany for the development of Apple cars. At the same time, it has also established an office in Vienna to serve the TItan program; Irish media reports that Apple has invested 300 million The US dollar is expanding its factory in HolyhIll, Ireland; South Korean media have also reported that Apple has partnered with a South Korean company to research and produce batteries for its self-driving electric vehicles.
Through these media reports, it seems that Apple’s plan to build a car is in full swing, whether it is for autonomous driving or vehicle manufacturing.
The odds of winning?
Choosing a car is not the only idea of Apple.
In China, Tencent’s leading investment in the production of Weilai Automobile, among which Weilai ES8 successfully set the Guinness World Record-“the highest altitude driven by electric cars”; Xiaopeng Automobile, in which Ali has a stake, plans to become China’s Tesla , And became the first Internet car manufacturer to enter the new energy vehicle sales list of the LCC; Lei Jun and BAIC signed a strategic cooperation agreement to enter the automotive market.
Overseas, Google also launched self-driving cars, and obtained legal license plates issued by the Nevada Motor Vehicle Driving Administration in 2012; Uber is also participating in the automotive industry. Last year, Uber announced Pilot operation of self-driving cars to pick up real passengers in Pittsburgh, USA.
In fact, this situation is just like the smart phone industry before. As long as it is a well-known technology company, it wants to be a smart phone that represents its own brand.
The reason why the automobile industry has attracted so many technology companies to join the car industry is that for other industries, the automobile industry is one of the rare industries with “large scale, low required innovation ability, and high return value”. And the value of bicycles is much higher than other consumer products of technology companies, such as mobile phones and tablets.
OtherIn addition, under the pressure of internationally advocating environmental protection and continuous energy consumption, the automotive industry will tend to be electrified and automated, and these are the common advantages of technology companies.
For Apple, this is the world’s first company with a market value of more than one trillion. It also has one of the biggest advantages over other technology companies, which is “rich.”
How rich is Apple? According to Apple’s 2018 Q3 financial report, Apple holds 237.1 billion US dollars in cash and cash equivalents, equivalent to 3.9 Tesla and 4.6 General Motors, equivalent to the market value of the four companies Tesla + GM + Ford + Daimler with.
That is to say, even for an industry with huge capital requirements such as automobiles, for Apple, it is possible to invest directly at any time, without even spending a fraction of the cash it holds.
For Apple, it is almost the best choice to choose such a huge market with high value and extremely high entry barriers, and can “efficiently consume” its own funds.
This year, Apple’s mobile phone business has begun to decline. According to Apple’s Q2 2019 financial report, Apple’s Q2 net revenue was 58.15 billion US dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 5%, of which IPhone sales were 31 billion U.S. dollars. Falling 17.33%, accounting for Apple’s overall revenue share to 53.5%, a record low, the decline of the mobile phone business is also forcing Apple to find a new breakthrough to stimulate the company’s interests to rise.
Apple also has an advantage of an ecological chain of about 500 million users with Ipone as its core, as well as Apple ’s strong design team and strong talent attraction.
These examples show that it is as if Apple has built a car, but it is really not as simple as imagined.
The difficulty of building a car
The difficulty for Apple to build a car is the question of how long Apple needs to make it.
In time, Apple is a technology company with no automotive experience. Although it has the largest and best design team in the world, it still needs time to perfect its design and verify the feasibility of its design. Especially after the departure of Apple’s chief designer George Ivey this year, Apple also needs some time to find suitable design talents to make up for this vacancy.
As for how to make it, Apple has to build its own factory, after all, in the automotive fieldThere is no foundry like Foxconn. If you really find other traditional car manufacturers, it will greatly restrict the technical level of Apple Car, because if you want to find traditional manufacturers, you can only take the road of technology sharing Apple will never give up its revolutionary technology to traditional car manufacturers. Without its own foundry, Apple would not be able to create revolutionary smart cars.
However, the problem with building your own factory is quality control. For example, Luo Yonghao definitely thought that the mobile phone was very good at that time, thinking that it was just to design an appearance, and other Foxconn could handle it. As a result, the first generation was difficult to produce due to process problems, and almost every subsequent generation had defects caused by process problems.
Also according to foreign media reports, in February this year, German car rental company NextMove became Tesla’s largest customer in Germany, and signed an agreement with Tesla to purchase 100 Model 3 electric models, but only 15 Model 3 have been delivered so far. NextMove discovered a lot of quality problems, so it decided to terminate its cooperation with Tesla and directly cancel the delivery order of the remaining 85 Model 3.
So if Apple builds its own factory, the quality barrier is the biggest obstacle facing Apple. After all, Apple and traditional car manufacturers are completely different. At this time, some people say that Apple can buy it! But who can buy it? All Apple needs is a company with new technologies, such as driverless cars and electric motors.
At present, only Tesla is worth Apple’s acquisition, but will Apple really give up its innovative ideas to acquire an emerging auto manufacturer that has become complete? We don’t know this, but from Apple’s arrogant way of doing things, it seems that this is also unrealistic.
Iphone was born at that time, subverting the entire mobile phone industry. Iphone has huge advantages over mobile phones in the same period of the year. From the elimination of physical buttons, larger screen size, higher resolution, better materials and other hardware advantages To the software advantage of several times faster processor, IOS fluency, etc., it has almost overwhelming advantages.
But it’s almost impossible for Apple to achieve this kind of lead in cars.
For example, the acceleration time of a car, the acceleration time of Tesla Model s 0-100 kilometers has reached 3.2s, and then it is very difficult to significantly improve. According to Apple ’s subversive idea of building a car, Apple ’s Apple car must Take a big lead in acceleration. Besides the price, Iphon
The difficulty for Apple to build a car is the question of how long Apple needs to make it.
In time, Apple is a technology company with no automotive experience. Although it has the largest and best design team in the world, it still needs time to perfect its design and verify the feasibility of its design. Especially after the departure of Apple’s chief designer George Ivey this year, Apple also needs some time to find suitable design talents to make up for this vacancy.
As for how to make it, Apple has to build its own factory, after all, in the automotive fieldThere is no foundry like Foxconn. If you really find other traditional car manufacturers, it will greatly restrict the technical level of Apple Car, because if you want to find traditional manufacturers, you can only take the road of technology sharing Apple will never give up its revolutionary technology to traditional car manufacturers. Without its own foundry, Apple would not be able to create revolutionary smart cars.
However, the problem with building your own factory is quality control. For example, Luo Yonghao definitely thought that the mobile phone was very good at that time, thinking that it was just to design an appearance, and other Foxconn could handle it. As a result, the first generation was difficult to produce due to process problems, and almost every subsequent generation had defects caused by process problems.
Also according to foreign media reports, in February this year, German car rental company NextMove became Tesla’s largest customer in Germany, and signed an agreement with Tesla to purchase 100 Model 3 electric models, but only 15 Model 3 have been delivered so far. NextMove discovered a lot of quality problems, so it decided to terminate its cooperation with Tesla and directly cancel the delivery order of the remaining 85 Model 3.
So if Apple builds its own factory, the quality barrier is the biggest obstacle facing Apple. After all, Apple and traditional car manufacturers are completely different. At this time, some people say that Apple can buy it! But who can buy it? All Apple needs is a company with new technologies, such as driverless cars and electric motors.
At present, only Tesla is worth Apple’s acquisition, but will Apple really give up its innovative ideas to acquire an emerging auto manufacturer that has become complete? We don’t know this, but from Apple’s arrogant way of doing things, it seems that this is also unrealistic.
Iphone was born at that time, subverting the entire mobile phone industry. Iphone has huge advantages over mobile phones in the same period of the year. From the elimination of physical buttons, larger screen size, higher resolution, better materials and other hardware advantages To the software advantage of several times faster processor, IOS fluency, etc., it has almost overwhelming advantages.
But it’s almost impossible for Apple to achieve this kind of lead in cars.
For example, the acceleration time of a car, the acceleration time of Tesla Model s 0-100 kilometers has reached 3.2s, and then it is very difficult to significantly improve. According to Apple ’s subversive idea of building a car, Apple ’s Apple car must Take a big lead in acceleration. Besides the price, Iphon