Apple Car can be a success without a wow factor
The long-rumored Apple-built car is inching closer to reality with a target date of 2026. But it might not be as fancy as you expect.
The future of Apple's CarPlay.
It's easy to let our imaginations run wild with speculation about what "Project Titan" could be, but it really only needs to integrate most of Apple's current technology for it to be a success. Tesla has shown that people are willing to go electric for the right combination of performance, technology, and price.
As long as Apple keeps the price of each vehicle under $100,000 (possibly closer to $50,000) and pushes the convenience of driving and maintenance as the main selling points, the company has a chance to make a serious dent in the automotive market.
Being able to track your car, remotely view its cameras, set speed limits, and even move it, all from its mobile app are features Tesla owners already enjoy. Apple could match those abilities and still make owning a car even less of a headache by adding features it already has across its product line.
Let's look at all the pieces of hardware and software currently on the table and see how those things make what Apple could offer to make most other vehicles on the road seem antiquated.
Relying on Siri while traveling at 70 miles per hour may not instill a lot of confidence, but we're willing to bet it works better than most other options on the market right now.
Our hope is that Siri can handle every car-related task: Roll down the windows; close the trunk; raise the third row of seats; turn off the seat heater in 10 minutes, and so on. You shouldn't need to use Siri to do all those things, but it would be nice if you could.
Apple's car may even be the genesis for why the company may want to simplify the voice assistant's wake word and get rid of the "hey."
It's clear Apple is building this new version of CarPlay for itself. The company has said, however, that other manufacturers can adopt it and fit it to their needs.
No one should be surprised when the inside of Apple's car resembles some form of this initial 2023-slated design.
It's anyone's guess as to whether it will work well on the road, but the controls and various widgets of information all looked nice.
You can use CarKey on an iPhone to unlock some vehicles.
Apple's CarKey should make using and sharing digital keys much easier. CarKey is still in the early stages and is mostly used with BMW cars, but the similar Home Key technology gives us a glimpse of the car experience.
Home Key has become more common over 2022. We've used several Home Key locks and, frankly, it's been great to use from Apple Wallet on the Apple Watch or iPhone.
Lately, with new 3D buildings and routing features, it seems that Apple is continuing to refine the mapping experience for much better navigation. Maps can even plan a route with EV charging in mind.
Similarly, there may be opportunities to show camera alerts from an Apple Car on your Apple TV while you're watching, if the vehicle detects a threat or tampering.
The latest information suggests Apple's vehicle will be capable of performing similar autonomous driving as some other manufacturers and mostly while on the highways.
Frankly, we don't think that piece of the puzzle is completely necessary to wow consumers.
More important is how Apple blends all its current technology together to create a seamless and cohesive driving experience. In the same way, it's easy to imagine an Apple VR headset before it's released-- because all the parts are already there (spatial audio, avatars, collaborative media, and more).
Even more practically, the AirPods Max demonstrate how Apple didn't need to revolutionize a market to enter it and make a dent. The company just needed to put its hardware and software pieces together to create something worthy of a premium price.
Read on AppleInsider
The future of Apple's CarPlay.
It's easy to let our imaginations run wild with speculation about what "Project Titan" could be, but it really only needs to integrate most of Apple's current technology for it to be a success. Tesla has shown that people are willing to go electric for the right combination of performance, technology, and price.
As long as Apple keeps the price of each vehicle under $100,000 (possibly closer to $50,000) and pushes the convenience of driving and maintenance as the main selling points, the company has a chance to make a serious dent in the automotive market.
Being able to track your car, remotely view its cameras, set speed limits, and even move it, all from its mobile app are features Tesla owners already enjoy. Apple could match those abilities and still make owning a car even less of a headache by adding features it already has across its product line.
Let's look at all the pieces of hardware and software currently on the table and see how those things make what Apple could offer to make most other vehicles on the road seem antiquated.
Siri
Siri will be a significant feature of any Apple-designed car, whether or not it is the centerpiece of it. Surprisingly, there are still no good voice assistants in cars in 2022. Even in a Tesla, voice commands feel rudimentary.Relying on Siri while traveling at 70 miles per hour may not instill a lot of confidence, but we're willing to bet it works better than most other options on the market right now.
Our hope is that Siri can handle every car-related task: Roll down the windows; close the trunk; raise the third row of seats; turn off the seat heater in 10 minutes, and so on. You shouldn't need to use Siri to do all those things, but it would be nice if you could.
Apple's car may even be the genesis for why the company may want to simplify the voice assistant's wake word and get rid of the "hey."
CarPlay
Apple has already shown off its future plans for CarPlay. In the demo, the feature extended beyond the infotainment unit and stretched across the dashboard screens. It even replaced all the gauges.It's clear Apple is building this new version of CarPlay for itself. The company has said, however, that other manufacturers can adopt it and fit it to their needs.
No one should be surprised when the inside of Apple's car resembles some form of this initial 2023-slated design.
It's anyone's guess as to whether it will work well on the road, but the controls and various widgets of information all looked nice.
CarKey (and Home Key)
Unlocking your future Apple Car with your iPhone is a given. Tesla has been doing this at scale since at least 2017. The Bluetooth method Tesla uses for its cars works fine, but it can be annoying to connect digital keys in the same household.You can use CarKey on an iPhone to unlock some vehicles.
Apple's CarKey should make using and sharing digital keys much easier. CarKey is still in the early stages and is mostly used with BMW cars, but the similar Home Key technology gives us a glimpse of the car experience.
Home Key has become more common over 2022. We've used several Home Key locks and, frankly, it's been great to use from Apple Wallet on the Apple Watch or iPhone.
Apple Maps
Five years ago Apple Maps was a joke. Today, it's pretty good. It's certainly worthy of being displayed proudly on a large screen in a car.Lately, with new 3D buildings and routing features, it seems that Apple is continuing to refine the mapping experience for much better navigation. Maps can even plan a route with EV charging in mind.
HomeKit
HomeKit may not seem connected to a car, at first, but charging a vehicle could be integrated into the Home app to handle a vehicle's connection to your electrical grid.Similarly, there may be opportunities to show camera alerts from an Apple Car on your Apple TV while you're watching, if the vehicle detects a threat or tampering.
Self-driving
At one time Apple's car was rumored to be fully autonomous, even going as far as to not include a steering wheel. That seemed silly at the time and apparently, that's no longer the case.The latest information suggests Apple's vehicle will be capable of performing similar autonomous driving as some other manufacturers and mostly while on the highways.
Frankly, we don't think that piece of the puzzle is completely necessary to wow consumers.
More important is how Apple blends all its current technology together to create a seamless and cohesive driving experience. In the same way, it's easy to imagine an Apple VR headset before it's released-- because all the parts are already there (spatial audio, avatars, collaborative media, and more).
Even more practically, the AirPods Max demonstrate how Apple didn't need to revolutionize a market to enter it and make a dent. The company just needed to put its hardware and software pieces together to create something worthy of a premium price.
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
That would sure be a Wow factor but I'd think it was 3-5 years off. Maybe that is Apple second gen after showing how they can meet and beat the expectations of the space it'll be time to take the gloves off and remake it.
https://www.gsmarena.com/aito_m5_harmonyos_system_quick_review-news-54285.php
By the time 2026 comes around things will have advanced a lot.
I don’t think Apple will do their own automobile manufacturing, have they ever made any of their products in recent memory? Think Foxconn and their other assembly manufacturers at present. LG or another Asian manufacturing behemoth seems like a likely partner in my mind.
Tesla is starting to show its age and weaknesses….static design, poor build quality, a suck of corporate profits into Elon’s wealth and especially the long-standing beta-project known as AutoPilot…a combined class action lawsuit and FTC fine waiting to happen, not to mention Elon’s toxicity in general which alienates employees and customers.
And where are these cars going to be built? They need factories if they're actually doing this.
Is there any documents on factory acquisitions? Or construction?
the difference and be far ahead.
None include tax and license or car insurance which is more on a Tesla….
What I’m really balking at is the price. A Prius at $28-30k, the least expensive EVs start at $50k. They gotta drop by nearly half before I’m even going to look seriously. I had an exchange a while back with someone online (so take this with a huge block of salt). They said that prices were high because the companies were factoring in the maintenance they would not be able to charge for after the sale. Don’t know if that’s at all true, but it wouldn’t surprise me. You look at comparable EVs vs Gas vehicles and there seems to be a massive premium for EV.
Ford Foundation is not the same as Ford Motor Company. Furthermore, if you guys had bothered to look, Ford as a manufacturer of cars is ranked #22 by Consumer Reports, so not exactly a ringing indictment of some sort of corrupt influence by the Ford Foundation, which is what you were trying to imply.
If you have evidence of unlawful, or even undue influence, please share.
I think it would be far better for Apple to establish a partnership with one or more respected, well-established automakers. Convince a company like BMW to let Apple design the various driver- and passenger-facing controls inside their cars (certainly the software, if not also the hardware). If and when that proves successful, establish additional partnerships with downmarket brands like Honda, Toyota, Subaru, and/or Chevrolet — brands whose buyers don't usually compete with Apple's initial upmarket partner brands. But let the auto companies retain control over the general mechanical designs and manufacturing of their vehicles. Apple doesn't need to control the whole stack to be successful here in the automotive space — and heaven knows that the designs of user-facing controls and software inside cars desperately need Apple's expertise.
At the very least, if Apple opts to design and build cars all on its own, they should create an all-new brand for it. What none of us needs is for the Apple brand itself to be tarnished by news reports of faulty autonomous-driving software (think Tesla), or for recalls, or for online image galleries to be full of rusty or crashed vehicles with Apple logos within a few years of their first car being sold.
No, they've always entered the market with something that may nominally be similar to existing products, but comes at it from a novel direction, and shifts the paradigm, often in pretty significant ways. When rumors precede the release of such a product, the enthusiasts rarely correctly guess what the new thing will actually do, and the naysayers also guess wrong, pontificating how a new Apple product will fail, based on the assumption that it will be same thing everyone else is making, but with an Apple logo on it. They are always wrong. (The iPhone: where's the stylus and keyboard? The iPad: ha, ha! wasn't there an SNL skit about an iPad feminine hygiene product? The App Store: nobody will make money on 99¢ apps. The Apple Watch: everybody already has a clock on their phone and nobody wears a watch any more, unless it's a fitbit, and nobody's going to pay $400 for a fitbit. etc. etc.)
If Apple actually does decide to produce a car, it won't be an Apple-branded version of what everyone else (including Tesla) is already making. It won't be the limited things in the article here that would make it "a success without a wow factor." It will be something different, something that others will say "why didn't we think of that," and a few years later, whatever changes in the paradigm come with it will be assumed by everyone to be how things always were.
Honestly, it continually amazes me how even people who regularly spend time on an Apple enthusiast website don't seem to register that Apple operates differently than its competitors. There is a very repetitious pattern here of people speculating about Apple's impending doom and other people suggesting what Apple should really do, all based on assumptions that Apple operates based on other companies' business models rather than on the very different business model that's made Apple pretty darn successful so far.
They're not going to make a similar-but-worse mistake by playing a subservient role to one or more car manufacturers as some sort of Apple-branded insert into a vehicle designed and built by someone else. They're especially not going to pursue "downmarket brands" for that sort of partnership. Apple is as profitable as they are because they don't pursue low-margin, compromised quality downmarket products. They never, ever do that.