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Apple Car: Bad Idea After All

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Re: Apple Car: Bad Idea After All

#151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the million mile mark there is at least one example. https://insideevs.com/news/559261/tesla-models-p85-1500000-k...

With multiple battery and drive unit replacements we may as well call it Triggers Tesla! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus

It is normal for a car with that many miles to need to have some replacement parts. There are users who have reported going over 500,000 km on original battery (20% degradation).

https://twitter.com/IovePianoBlack/status/155158555774626201...

Re: Apple Car: Bad Idea After All

#152
post #26

So I've always wondered if Apple actually building a 'car' was ever really the goal. It seems like a skunkworks where they try crazy things and then incorporate into Carplay. Future seems to be ever expanding Carplay support. I use it and probably would not buy another car that did not have it integrated. I imagine car manufacturers are somewhat tired of always building HUDs and in vehicle control systems. So gradual…

Almost every new car sold in the developed world has a display in the dashboard, but very few actually have a Heads-Up Display (HUD) projected in the driver's line of sight. It's mostly just premium models from GM and BMW that come with this feature. It's a shame that more cars don't have a HUD as it really does help to reduce driver distractions.

Re: Apple Car: Bad Idea After All

#153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's to make the phones less of a theft target (for parting out). It's a tradeoff, but one most people prefer.

If the manufacturer makes parts easily available, wouldn't the incentive to steal devices to sell for parts more or less disappear? Same thing with counterfeit parts. The market for stolen/fake parts exists because OEM parts are essentially impossible to acquire legally. Serialisation is simply another way for Apple to maintain control. You can now repair a device, but only with Apple's blessing and knowledge. The pr…

The part would have to be easily available and cheap.

Re: Apple Car: Bad Idea After All

#154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dunno, a billion dollars a year (for 8 years) for CarPlay skunkworks seems like a bit much even for Apple..

Let's take a look at it. I'm sure Apple is getting paid in some way for CarPlay integration. Now if the next generation has higher level of integration that car manufacturers use it instead of their own built software, there's certainly money flowing to Apple. So, let's say that Honda starts integrating it into their vehicles. In 2020, 1.3mm vehicles. Of course, initially, not every car Honda sells will have CarPlay…

https://www.macworld.com/article/233855/carplay-faq.html

> Whether it costs money to get CarPlay support in your car is up to its manufacturer. While Apple doesn’t charge automakers a fee for the necessary software to integrate CarPlay, there are some costs associated with meeting the necessary hardware requirements.

The only reason an automaker does not include CarPlay is to try and keep their product from becoming a commodity. It was disappointing to see Toyota be stubborn and refuse CarPlay for so many years.

Re: Apple Car: Bad Idea After All

#155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seeing how boring Carplay has been so far I’d have my doubts about skunkworks. That said it makes sense they might be working on exclusive operating system of sorts. The way car systems (100s of suppliers and their implementation) work nowadays is insane.

I don’t know what you mean by “boring” but CarPlay is fantastic. It works really well and covers most things I’d like to do with a central console.

You are right, maybe because it’s boring it is good, but IMO its not fantastic. Main use case is using google maps in a pretty inconvenient way…

Like, you iOS doesn’t support my language maybe then just let me read message on that massive screen.

And if my kids want to watch peppa pig - let them? Blocking video from central console is such immature safety feature.

Re: Apple Car: Bad Idea After All

#156

A full Apple Car has always seemed unrealistic to me. Cars are a fundamentally different industry then consumer electronics and software. Apple would be starting from scratch, and facing a lot of entrenched competition with huge budgets and infrastructure. And for what? What could Apple do that GM, Toyota, or Tesla couldn't? Maybe a better UX for the dashboard. And while many car UXs are absolutely terrible, improvin…

> What could Apple do that GM, Toyota, or Tesla couldn't?

I think they filed some patent that revealed their competitive advantage was based on the premise they were uniquely capable of extracting range and charge out of batteries via optimizations and their experiences building consumer electronics. If they delivered somehow an electric vehicle with much better UX across the board they could build a healthy car business.

Re: Apple Car: Bad Idea After All

#157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sort of, but they don't let you control things like... climate control, etc.. There's no real reason those APIs can't/don't exist as long as they have proper safety mechanisms in place.

Isn’t that the purpose of Android Automative - not to be confused with Android Auto?

Yeah, but no manufacturer has implemented it to my knowledge. Also I believe that requires being installed on the car's head unit itself

Re: Apple Car: Bad Idea After All

#159
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wouldn't people have said the same thing with cell phones back in the day? In fact I had a discussion with an Apple store employee asking what they thought about the rumor that Apple was going to be releasing a phone. He said that there was no way Apple would even want to be in that space. I'm not saying they will get into cars, but you just never know.

They can make the mp3 players in enough quantity in a single place. You can air freight mp3 players to do JIT delivery. With cars that’s not possible.

This is true. I would say, however, getting into phones meant dealing with carriers and such. That is still not to the same level of complexity of a car, but I could see Apple partnering with an existing maker to help fill in areas that they don't have skills in. They did that when they partnered with Google for webservices during the iPhone initial release.

Re: Apple Car: Bad Idea After All

#160
post #152
post #26

So I've always wondered if Apple actually building a 'car' was ever really the goal. It seems like a skunkworks where they try crazy things and then incorporate into Carplay. Future seems to be ever expanding Carplay support. I use it and probably would not buy another car that did not have it integrated. I imagine car manufacturers are somewhat tired of always building HUDs and in vehicle control systems. So gradual…

Almost every new car sold in the developed world has a display in the dashboard, but very few actually have a Heads-Up Display (HUD) projected in the driver's line of sight. It's mostly just premium models from GM and BMW that come with this feature. It's a shame that more cars don't have a HUD as it really does help to reduce driver distractions.

I think all the Genesis models have them
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