Apple's electric car project an 'open secret,' says Elon Musk
In an interview on Monday, Tesla founder Elon Musk said it is obvious that Apple is working on an electric car to rival products from established automakers, though he doesn't foresee a Cupertino-designed vehicle threating growing Tesla sales.
While he declined to offer specifics, Musk seemed confident in telling the BBC that Apple is indeed working on an electric car that would compete with Tesla's lineup.
"Well it's pretty hard to hide something if you hire over a thousand engineers to do it," Musk said, adding that while Apple is serious about getting into the automotive market, the industry is a difficult one to disrupt.
Apple has been on a hiring spree over the past year, picking up numerous engineers, software programmers and other players from the automotive world. As Apple hires away engineers from Tesla, so does the electric car firm poach from Apple's ranks.
In October, Musk commented on the back-and-forth poaching issue, calling Apple a graveyard for engineers who "didn't make it" at Tesla. However, sources informed AppleInsider that certain high-level departures hindered Tesla's product development plans.
Apple's aggressive hiring practices come at the expense of smaller companies, like battery specialist A123 Systems and electric motorcycle maker Mission Motors, the latter of which ceased operations shortly after its top talent moved to Apple.
Aside from employment records, not much is known about the so-called "Apple Car." AppleInsider last year revealed a the project, dubbed internally as "Project Titan," was being run out of a secret facility in Sunnyvale, Calif., though research and development operations could soon be relocated to larger dedicated space in San Jose.
Most recently, it was discovered last week that Apple now owns "apple.car," "apple.auto" and "apple.cars" domain names, suggesting a consumer facing product is in the offing.
While he declined to offer specifics, Musk seemed confident in telling the BBC that Apple is indeed working on an electric car that would compete with Tesla's lineup.
"Well it's pretty hard to hide something if you hire over a thousand engineers to do it," Musk said, adding that while Apple is serious about getting into the automotive market, the industry is a difficult one to disrupt.
Apple has been on a hiring spree over the past year, picking up numerous engineers, software programmers and other players from the automotive world. As Apple hires away engineers from Tesla, so does the electric car firm poach from Apple's ranks.
In October, Musk commented on the back-and-forth poaching issue, calling Apple a graveyard for engineers who "didn't make it" at Tesla. However, sources informed AppleInsider that certain high-level departures hindered Tesla's product development plans.
Apple's aggressive hiring practices come at the expense of smaller companies, like battery specialist A123 Systems and electric motorcycle maker Mission Motors, the latter of which ceased operations shortly after its top talent moved to Apple.
Aside from employment records, not much is known about the so-called "Apple Car." AppleInsider last year revealed a the project, dubbed internally as "Project Titan," was being run out of a secret facility in Sunnyvale, Calif., though research and development operations could soon be relocated to larger dedicated space in San Jose.
Most recently, it was discovered last week that Apple now owns "apple.car," "apple.auto" and "apple.cars" domain names, suggesting a consumer facing product is in the offing.
Comments
The initial sets of EMVs had such restrictions that I could not take them seriously.
Then Tesla started making them; I love those vehicles! Excellent range on a charge, looks great, excellent performance, forward-thinking design... But still, for long road trips, these remain impractical, at least for me. The Tesla recharging stations will eventually reduce some of the travel restrictions, but as of today, there are not enough on route that I drive to make these cars practical.
Apple will certainly address "milage" on a charge, charge-speed, etc. Tesla has been quite innovative, but I anticipate Apple will be more so. I'm very interested to see what Apple will come up with to make their car more attractive than Tesla. Since Apple tends to cash in on economy of scale, I'm hopeful that their car is far more affordable, but outperforms Tesla. Apple is a luxury brand, but targets mass marketing rather than niche sales.
There are so many variables... this will be interesting to watch unfold.
On a side note, I wonder if the division will be called Apple Cars, Apple Motors, or what? I very much doubt the individual car will be called the Apple Car. Or maybe it will be; the sedan is the Apple Car, the SUV/Crossover is called the Apple Car Plus.
Any search for “Car” will pull it up first. No, the name can’t be protected, but who else would be stupid enough to name their product Car, too?
You don't See BP or ExxonMobil going out of it's way to put out electrical charging stations, and partnering with Telsa/Apple/Faraday.
The roads aren't the infrastructure (as long as EMVs use rubber wheels... think about it if they required narrow gauge rails)... fuel distribution is.
Even with phones, Apple had to get one carrier to let it on the net, and front the cost of the phone to sell data packages. GM wouldn't do that (CMAC may... GM dealers won't)... BP won't do that.
Barring a hydrogen car, which like tesla requires a whole new infrastructure, the only way to accommodate electric vehicles in a significant way is to totally change the use paradigm.
How about this: a subscription based service where you just book a trip on your smartphone, uber-like, to a driverless car service which has an extensive pool of vehicles always available, that automatically go to recharge when their batteries get low. Heck, in some circumstances you could even have a driverless resupply/ carrier truck to top up and drop off extra vehicles in more remote areas. It would disrupt the taxi business, heck even public transport in urban areas, solve the school drop off issues, and work like pony express over long distances. And people wouldn't have a $30k plus lump of engineering spending most of its time in the garage, or if that has been converted to a home theatre, outside in the elements.
What about Ford? Or is Apple too late for them?