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Apple targets car production by 2024, eyes ‘next level’ battery tech: sources

reuters.com

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Re: Apple targets car production by 2024, eyes ‘next level’ battery tech: sources

#181

Post by st1x7 »

ajross wrote: post #107
finnh wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Apple is fundamentally now a company that can move immense amounts of capital into new industries with the underlying ethos of user experience. Also: insane supply-chain management chops, a skill that is more and more transferable - especially for electric cars.

I don't know that I completely buy that. Shipping/transport and resource management at the scale of automobile production is a rather different world than consumer electronics where literally everything anyone cares about fits on a plain old wooden pallet. Apple does have smart people, and they obviously have a ton of cash. So they absolutely could make a play here. But to imagine that they'll walk in to a market tha…

As a company that is running mostly on brand status, Tesla is probably the easiest competitor for Apple to beat in this space. The real competition are the companies that have been building cars for decades.

Re: Apple targets car production by 2024, eyes ‘next level’ battery tech: sources

#182

Post by FireBeyond »

jacobolus wrote: post #39
api wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tolerances and build quality weren't the problem with the butterfly keyboard. It was just a fundamentally flawed design that was not durable enough for real world use.

I can't imagine that it didn't stand up to very extensive lab testing, before getting approved for mass production across Apple's laptops. It would be very interesting to hear some inside accounts about what went wrong there. I wouldn't at all be surprised to learn that the mass-produced parts didn't quite measure up to the prototypes, whether because of less consistent materials, part manufacturing defects, slightly…

What was even worse was the usual Apple cycle of deny there's an issue, begrudgingly acknowledge that it "may" be an issue, and then tout a new, improved version that fixed things and resolved the problem (and then didn't - how many iterations of the butterfly are we on now?).

Re: Apple targets car production by 2024, eyes ‘next level’ battery tech: sources

#183

Post by light_hue_1 »

ianai wrote: post #138
light_hue_1 wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The biggest lesson from Tesla is that cars are not cellphones. Having one display off to the side, without buttons, that does everything is an awful experience in a car. This is both the most functional and most beautiful design choice I've ever experienced. My favorite part of my Model 3. You quickly come to realize that voice control does everything and that you should never have to reach for a button or fiddle w…

And I view the voice command thing as a thing to be avoided in most or all cases. I simply don’t want to talk to electronics. The privacy implications alone scare me away. No thanks.

> I simply don’t want to talk to electronics. The privacy implications alone scare me away. No thanks.

I think you should consider the tradeoffs here.

Practical safety on the road today, where I don't die because I'm fiddling with buttons, trumps theoretical unmeasurable fearmongering about vague privacy concerns. The reality is that if Tesla were to record every command I ever give the car and post them online against my will, no one will not learn much about me aside how aggressive I want the windshield wipers to be and that I enjoy having a warm butt when I drive.

Re: Apple targets car production by 2024, eyes ‘next level’ battery tech: sources

#184

Post by treis »

0xEFF wrote: post #139
treis wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure I see that. Clearly they are good at making computer like things, but it's not like they're God's gift to supply chain management. There's been quite a few mistakes over the years. Hard to see them doing better than car companies that have been building cars for decades. I'm also not sure what Apple's edge here is. At this point all I really want out of an entertainment center is a screen for my phone to…

> I'm also not sure what Apple's edge here is. At this point all I really want out of an entertainment center is a screen for my phone to plug into. Apple has been doing CarPlay for years. If they do at least as well with the rest of the interior they’ll have an edge over most luxury cars today.

That's my point. They can improve the car experience through Carplay and the iPhone. There's no point in manufacturing the entire car.

And ultimately buttons and entertainment centers only move the needle for relatively comparable cars. Apple would first have to get as good at Toyota et al at building the rest of the car before a better UX can win.

Re: Apple targets car production by 2024, eyes ‘next level’ battery tech: sources

#185

Post by double0jimb0 »

abhinavsharma wrote: post #21

This is starting to make increasingly more sense even though Apple making a car seemed laughable a few years ago. Apple is fundamentally now a company that can move immense amounts of capital into new industries with the underlying ethos of user experience. Apple Card was perhaps a dipping of the toes moment. In theory, Tesla shouldn't be worth what it is because the tech behind it is increasingly getting commoditize…

While Apple surely has lots of mechanical engineers, Apple doesn’t have the greatest track record of successfully innovating moving components with high lifecycle requirements.

Would you be excited to drive a moving vehicle designed by same company that has class-action lawsuits against many of it’s mechanical innovations: butterfly keyboard, failing screen hinges, bending iPhones, etc

On second thought, maybe Apple doesn’t actually have great mechanical engineering innovation chops.

Re: Apple targets car production by 2024, eyes ‘next level’ battery tech: sources

#186

Post by actuator »

Has Apple been poaching significant self driving talent to attempt self driving version of the electric car?

Based on their consumer electronics past, Apple would probably nail the design and get the hardware mostly right. For self driving I think Apple's best bet here to me seems like licensing Waymo tech. Waymo seems to have the lead amongst all and Apple would be more interested in the complete product unlike Waymo which seems to be just interested in the driving tech.

Re: Apple targets car production by 2024, eyes ‘next level’ battery tech: sources

#187

Post by treis »

onethought wrote: post #149
treis wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure I see that. Clearly they are good at making computer like things, but it's not like they're God's gift to supply chain management. There's been quite a few mistakes over the years. Hard to see them doing better than car companies that have been building cars for decades. I'm also not sure what Apple's edge here is. At this point all I really want out of an entertainment center is a screen for my phone to…

> Hard to see them doing better than car companies that have been building cars for decades. I'm sure Nokia had the same confidence in 2005.

Sure, but Apple had a revolutionary new product. They weren't that great at the nuts and bolts of making a phone, but it didn't matter because the concept of the iPhone was so much better than any phone out there. What is Apple going to bring to the car to match that?

Re: Apple targets car production by 2024, eyes ‘next level’ battery tech: sources

#188

Post by Ericson2314 »

canofbars wrote: post #152
swarnie_ wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stops working after four years due to planned obsoletes but due to the billion dollar legal team it can never be proven in court.

And we all pretend that tesla and the rest of the car industry isn't planning this right now.

Those of thus that don't own cars are not pretending!

Re: Apple targets car production by 2024, eyes ‘next level’ battery tech: sources

#189

Post by chadash »

modeless wrote: post #6

The Tesla Model 3 already embodies the minimalism, software focus, and vertical integration that have driven Apple's success in the phone market. Right down to the custom SoC and capacitive touchscreen in lieu of buttons. I'm really curious what Apple's differentiators will be. Also, 2024 still seems aggressive to deploy self-driving for real.

> I'm really curious what Apple's differentiators will be.

In the car market, being a different brand is a differentiator. Ferrari, McLaren, Bugatti, Lamborghini, and Porsche don't offer vastly different products. But the car market is heavily driven by people wanting something different from their friends. Once Teslas become popular enough, people will want something else just to be different.

Re: Apple targets car production by 2024, eyes ‘next level’ battery tech: sources

#190

Post by FireBeyond »

KoftaBob wrote: post #33
thorwasdfasdf wrote: post #7

FAANGs really need to expand into more and more industries if they expect to continue their hypergrowth. Apple, at 6% of SPY, especially.

I don't mind that when the industries they're expanding into are uncompetitive and controlled by a small # of incumbents. When companies with the resources of a FAANG enter industries like that, they're able to make it price competitive quickly. For example, what Netflix did to the cable industry.

And now my Netflix is almost at $20/month. And $12/month for Hulu. What about Disney+? Peacock? HBO Max?

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

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