One possible difference based on reports concerning the two companies is Google has long said it had no intention of actually building vehicles for sale to consumers. Their goal has always been to let car companies build cars on Google's autonomous platform. Apple was considering an entire vehicle build according to "those in the know".
So this particular piece of reporting, which remember is a rumor like many others, has to do with the way Google envisioned self-driving vehicle cockpits. If true they are demurring to the conventional auto makers and their current drive-space designs instead of insisting that driver intervention be avoided. I get why they'd believe that allowing a human driver to interfere with autonomous driving would potentially make the entire platform more dangerous and unpredictable, but drivers aren't (yet) ready to accept truly hands-off highway transport.
IMHO the best way forward if they want to get there eventually is ease into it with steering wheels for driver override if that's what makes folks feel more comfortable about it. For the sake of overall safety tho I think it's inevitable that hands-off will have to be the rule at some future point. Mixing unpredictable and easily distracted human drivers with truly autonomous vehicles in constant communication with other vehicles around them to prevent accidental contact is a disaster waiting to happen
Apple should really position themselves to become the artificial intelligence and OS for the car and not let (yet another) Windows and Android situation happen to them. As long as automakers adhere to Apple standards, there should be no reason they should be excluded from implementing an Apple solution.
What is the Android situation? One in which Apple vacuums up nearly all of the profit in the sector, and Samsung gets some? Why would Apple wish to avoid that?
Android is a massive boon for Google, less so for manufacturers, but then again that is due to Google making money in the ad business and not in hardware. Perhaps the Windows vs. macOS comparison is more appropriate. We're all aware of how Windows became the dominant OS because of licensing. There's no reason Apple could not license an Apple carOS to all car manufacturers and provide a superior user experience for all drivers (and future passengers of self-driving cars).
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