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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

#461

Post by xvector »

jacobolus wrote: post #234
xvector wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and then didn't [resolve the problem] - how many iterations of the butterfly are we on now? Uh, the butterfly isn't used in Apple keyboards anymore. They reverted to the old scissor switch design some time ago.

They got through at least 3 versions of the butterfly design, and kept using it from early 2015 through late 2019, before finally switching to a new (thinner than pre-2015, but still substantially thicker than the butterfly switch) rubber dome scissor design. It would have been much better if they had figured out how to cut their losses and revert the keyboards in 2016 or early 2017, even though that would have taken…

I’m not disagreeing with you, just pointing out that the issue has been resolved whereas OP stated it was not.

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

#462

Post by echelon »

AirborneUnicorn wrote: post #319
wobbly_bush wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't even begin to imagine how a walled garden for a car would look like. Perhaps there are examples from already existing car manufacturers.

I’m not sure you have to look too much further than Tesla for a taste of it.

When Keurig does it, it's widely panned. When $favoriteCompany does it, it's hailed as innovation and welcomed with open arms and open pockets.

We shouldn't accept it anywhere. We need strong laws to prevent anyone from doing this.

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

#463

Post by lmedinas »

jeffbee wrote: post #352
balls187 wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you driven Tesla and other comparable EV's? From my experience, Tesla's tech (I drive a VW) is ahead of their competition pretty handily. The new Ford Mustang Mach looks competitive, but even that is still at least 9 months away. The VW id4 EV is sold out, and they are taking pre-orders for the next batch. Tesla has first mover advantage when it comes to mass market EV's. It's not just cult of personality.

> first mover advantage Did you mean second? There actually can be a lot of advantage to being the second mover. Nissan had already sold 100000 units of the Leaf between 2010-2014, while Tesla had sold up to that point only 16k cars. Clearly, Tesla wasn't the first mass-market EV. Indeed, it seems obvious in hindsight that Tesla's success owed mainly to ignoring the mass market and selling very expensive cars at firs…

Well i guess Tesla means a lot of things nowadays:

- Most advanced Technology in a Car at this moment both battery-wise or SW. - People are starting cults around Tesla, specially geeks and nerds. Similar to Apple :) - Tesla means today EV.

Everybody identifies Tesla with the most advanced EV.

You are right, they were probably not the first ones, but the ones easily identifiable as the EV and Car Technology. This is what they have as advantage compared to other EVs.

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

#464

Post by watsocd »

SkyMarshal wrote: post #56
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…

>Apple is just about the only company with a similar ethos and enough money and patience to be a viable competitor and have a competitive brand known for quality. Mostly agree, though I suspect a few of the major car companies like Volkswagon/Audi and Toyota/Lexus are capable of this as well. But yes, Apple has the cash reserves to not just manufacture electric cars, but to build out the necessary infrastructure netw…

If Steve Jobs was still alive, I would agree with you.

Steve Jobs = Elon Musk in a different market.

Without someone in control who can make major decisions quickly, capital will not be enough for Apple.

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

#465

Post by dawnerd »

tdesilva wrote: post #305
iandanforth wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having recently sold my Tesla Model 3 I can say there is a lot to be desired with that car. 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. I hope that Apple learns that lesson. I think if they had gone first they might have made that mistake too, but now that it's been tried they can find interes…

The fact that everything is on the center display is the biggest reason keeping me from seriously considering buying a Tesla. Distractions don't belong in a car.

You get over it in the first week and it really isn't as bad as you'd think.

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

#466

Post by Corrado »

wobbly_bush wrote: post #283
go_prodev wrote: post #277

Would Apple be required to make their car parts interchangeable with the generic aftermarket brands and car service centers? IIRC there is a law specifically for car manufacturing. I can imagine a dystopian future with custom non-standard parts, specialist repair centers, restrictions on what you can do with it, Apple being able to track everywhere we go, what we listen to, who is with us, and establishing a network…

I can't even begin to imagine how a walled garden for a car would look like. Perhaps there are examples from already existing car manufacturers.

Actually, most equipment in a modern BMW is keyed to that particular vehicle and cannot be replaced without a visit to the dealer. Everything from the seats, to the radio, to the headlights are all on a CAN bus and have to be coded to that specific car before they will work.

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

#467

Post by ajross »

gamblor956 wrote: post #457
ajross wrote: post #392

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> As a company that is running mostly on brand status They shipped like half a million cars this year! They own like 70-80% of every EV market they compete in. This is the kind of criticism you'd read about Tesla in 2014. The companies that "have been building cars for decades" are getting stomped by Tesla in this space, 12x more Model 3's were sold than LEAF's in the US last year. At some point the established wisdo…

Tesla's biggest threat isn't Apple. It's the other automakers making enough EVs that they don't need to purchase credits from Tesla anymore. Tesla is profitable, but every single one of its quarterly profits is still the result of selling credits to other automakers, not from the sale of its cars. In that regard, Tesla joins such luminous counterparts as Fiat (1.4 million profit on accounting charge) and Hyundai ($14…

That credits thing doesn't seem to add up. A quick google shows that 7% of Tesla's 2019 revenue was selling credits. While sure, that's of the same order as the profit, you can't make an argument that "all" of the profit was credits for basic fungibility reasons. "All" of the profit could be any 7% chunk of revenue.

And 7% is like half a year of profits growth in this cases for a company that is still growing rapidly and finding efficiencies.

It's spin, again. And I genuinely don't understand why so much of it continues to be deployed against this company when it keeps proving it wrong.

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

#468

Post by echelon »

bufferoverflow wrote: post #426
wobbly_bush wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't even begin to imagine how a walled garden for a car would look like. Perhaps there are examples from already existing car manufacturers.

Easy. Most important parts are chipped and are coded to only work with each other. Without the private keys you can't make any other genuine part from another Apple car to work in your car. They started doing that with iPhones.

Stallman is rolling in his grave. And he's not even dead yet.

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

#469

Post by toomuchtodo »

vesinisa wrote: post #443
fiddlerwoaroof wrote: post #425

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s not my point: my point is that I mostly don’t have to interact with the screen while driving because they made good decisions about what controls to put on the steering column.

This is still very basic car UI desing. Other car manufacturers will catch up with Tesla.

You can imagine why, for many, this is hard to believe. People have said for years legacy automakers will “catch up” to Tesla, while they continue to ramp at Plaid speed.

Culture is hard, but the core of your business. To not embrace the culture your org needs to outcompete competitors is to embrace failure.

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

#470

Post by enos_feedler »

iancmceachern wrote: post #355
tuatoru wrote: post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The regulatory differences are also huge. Apple has negliglible experience dealing with the raft of certifications and demonstrations of compliance that car manufacturers have to go through.

They have been working in a similar highly regulated space (medical devices) for years.

You could also count finance. Apple Card and Apply Pay. Apple was able to execute through partnerships. It is possible they use a similar strategy here. I think it is important to remember that as painful as these regulatory and compliance hurdles might be, it pales in comparison to the research, design and deployment of technology enabled products that Apple delivers.
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