Apple cars! (Maybe.)
In 2015, my colleague Dai Wakabayashi reported for The Wall Street Journal that Apple was working on an electric vehicle. And today, the company may still be at least half a decade away from its cars hitting the roads.
I’m excited about the possibility of an Apple car. More electric cars, yes! But Apple’s history shows that it’s not easy being a car newcomer. And Apple may have unique disadvantages that make its brand of car no sure thing.
The latest news is that the maker of Hyundai and Kia cars is negotiating to eventually make Apple vehicles at a Kia factory in Georgia, CNBC reported on Wednesday. Teaming up with an experienced car manufacturer is probably necessary.
Apple has been here before, however. About five years ago, the company worked on car engineering with Magna International in Canada. That didn’t go anywhere, because Apple’s car project has been a shambles.
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The company has repeatedly staffed up its car initiative, changed its mind about its strategy and fired a bunch of people. Apple went back and forth, too, on whether to try for fully driverless cars, and whether it should create the car or just design the technology for it. Driverless technology is apparently back on.
Never count Apple out. But I wonder if the company’s dithering reflects underlying and unfixable problems. And Apple has a cultural disadvantage here. Steve Jobs sprung the iPhone on a world surprised by it, but the company’s predilection for secrecy and delight doesn’t — or shouldn’t — apply to driverless cars.
A driverless car has to be rigorously tested on public roads and win the confidence of regulators and the public. Apple has to clue in an army of allies on its product road map — something it doesn’t do to the same extent with its gadget partners. (Apple has conducted driverless car road tests, but far less than others have.)
I hope it works. But G.M.’s whole fleet might be electric before Apple gets a single car off the factory floor.
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Me: Electric cars make no noise so you won’t hear them coming and a driver-less one – let’s hope it stops before it does not see you and runs you over. No more walking around looking at your iPad or iPhone
