Apple CEO Tim Cook appeared on the Fox News YouTube channel on the 18th of last month (local time). This is a time when speculation that Apple will produce Apple cars in cooperation with Hyundai Motor Company or Kia Motors.
Fox News anchor Chris Wallace asked about Apple’s future plans, and Tim Cook replied, “We will continue to make the best in the world.” When asked by the anchor, “Will the future plans include Apple Cars?” Tim Cook laughed and said, “I don’t respond to rumors.”
The Apple car question that many people are curious about might have been resolved, but Tim Cook tricked it away.
The reality of the Apple Car is still in vain. When the Apple car issue broke out, a company called’Apple’ did not appear in Hyundai Motor’s or Kia’s public announcement. Apple has never officially confirmed that it is working with a specific car maker.
What is clear, however, is that Apple is putting a great deal of effort into recruiting talent to enter the automotive market. Talents who have stood out in the automotive industry are turning to Apple every year. Humans are the most obvious puzzles that will put together a substantive Apple Car project.
Looking at Apple’s talent recruitment, you can gauge the future direction of Apple’s cars. It can be expected to create conditions for making cars themselves, or to create a new level of operating system (OS) for cars in cooperation with car companies.
What kind of automotive experts did Apple bring
Apple’s hiring status for Apple Cars can be found on Apple’s specialized media, McRumers. It shows at a glance what and when and which automotive experts moved to Apple.
Since 2019, Apple has worked hard to attract people from Tesla.
Steve McManus, senior director at Apple, is a prime example. McManus moved to Apple in July 2019 and has been working for more than 1 year and 7 months. He served as Vice President of Engineering at Tesla for four years from May 2015 to June 2019. Previously, he served at Aston Martin and Bentley. At Aston Martin, he also served as a senior engineer responsible for the exterior and interior of the vehicle.
Apple’s hiring shows its willingness to design the vehicle itself. As McManus has been in charge of engineering at more than three automakers, it is highly likely that he will be a talent that fits Apple’s plan to create a future car.
McManus revealed that he worked at Apple on LinkedIn, but didn’t specifically mention what field he was in charge of. It can be seen that the overall status of the Apple Car is still hidden under the veil.
Apple director Jonathan Shiv is also one of the notable figures.
Seeb emphasized that LinkedIn has been a high-level technical engineer for over 20 years in the German and American automotive industries.
Seeb worked as an interior design engineer within the BMW Group from May 2017 to February 2012. After that, he moved to Tesla, where he worked as an engineer in various fields such as vehicle fusion for 6 years and 4 months.
Shiv has been working at Apple since August 2018 after working as a vehicle engineering manager at Waymo, a separate subsidiary of Google’s autonomous driving company, for two years from August 2018.
Taken together, Shiv’s experience shows that Apple is likely to come up with a new self-driving technology that will compete with Google Waymo. An analysis suggests that Sieve, who has even experienced the automotive industry and the information technology (IT) industry, may play the heart of the Apple Car, which is still kept secret.
Andrew Kim, known as a Korean, is also an indispensable key figure in running the Apple Car Project.
Andrew Kim has a design career at Microsoft (MS) and Tesla. From 2013 to 2016, he was in charge of holo lens design at MS, and from 2016 to 2018 at Tesla, he took on the role of senior manager designing key car models such as Model 3 and Model Y. Andrew Kim joined Apple in December 2018 and continues to work.
In addition, Apple has hired personnel from various fields, including India’s Tata Motors, Blackberry, Volkswagen, Nvidia, Ford, and Bosch. Apple’s hiring is expected to continue this year as it seeks to attract diverse human resources without being biased toward a specific field.
First scenario…Will it be a shuttle or a car
Looking at the overall hiring of human resources, Apple is busy trying to come up with differentiated autonomous vehicle solutions. This is why autonomous driving is said to be the first future scenario for making a proper Apple car.
Then, what type of self-driving car will Apple create? There is a possibility to make it into two types: a shuttle-type autonomous vehicle that many can benefit from, and a premium-type autonomous vehicle. The industry expects Apple to plan a business that is close to the latter.
According to industry sources, Apple is known to be working with Taiwanese semiconductor company TSMC to develop an autonomous driving chip for Apple cars. TSMC is developing additional gallium nitride (GaN) technology to be used in hybrid vehicle converters and chargers in cooperation with global semiconductor company STMicroelectronics.
The sequence of movements Apple sees is similar to Tesla. Apple is currently improving the iPhone and iPad through regular software (SW) updates. There is a very high possibility of securing constant autonomous driving data and linking the results with software updates.
Plant construction is the first task Apple will have to tackle in order to launch a Tesla-like vehicle. This is because it is the most realistic direction for automobile manufacturing that values safety as the highest value.
Apple is familiar with consignment production. Looking at the consignment production of the iPhone to Foxconn in Taiwan rather than its own production, it is possible to speculate that Apple will not make the car itself.
The speculation that Apple can cooperate with Hyundai Motor Group this year is attributed to Apple’s actions through the iPhone strategy.
If mass production of Apple cars cannot be realized, it can be speculated to introduce an autonomous shuttle service. It is an analysis that it can be the best option that can guarantee multiple mobility at low cost. This is because in the US, a number of companies such as Waymo are introducing mobility services using autonomous vehicles.
Apple has a strong partner who can actively use mobility services. This is Didi Chushing, known as the Chinese version of Uber.
In 2016, Didi Chushing invested 1 billion dollars (about 1.2 trillion won) by Apple. Didichusing, which received a large investment from Apple, began developing autonomous driving mobility technology and obtained a license for a pilot autonomous driving operation in Shanghai, China in 2019.
Recently, Didi Chushing is increasing its influence by attracting investments in cargo transportation business worth about $1.5 billion. It also operates ride sharing and carpool services. If such a service is expanded not only in Shanghai but also nationwide, it is predicted that Apple will be able to actively develop autonomous shuttles using this network.
Strengthening the relationship with BMW, which has maintained a good relationship, can also be a good condition for strengthening Apple cars. This is because Apple has developed a’digital key’ that can open a vehicle door with an iPhone, while Apple’s map technology for indicating the best route for electric vehicles will be installed in future BMW electric vehicles.
Second scenario…Will CarPlay be available without an iPhone?
Although Apple is attracting manpower related to autonomous driving, the possibility that the business itself may not be realized should be kept in mind.
If there is strong uncertainty in the business itself, expanding the scope of the vehicle infotainment system’Carplay’ could be the second scenario.
CarPlay works with Apple iPhone iOS. When the iPhone is connected to the vehicle via USB or Bluetooth, Apple’s symbolic smartphone interface appears on the center fascia display. Initially, it was intended to enjoy music content inside the vehicle, but now various navigation apps such as T Map, Kakao Navi, and Naver Map are added to serve as a route guide.
Carplay’s interface has improved over time. In particular, a multitasking function that allows you to view vehicle maps and music contents at a glance has also been added. One of the advantages of CarPlay is that it can be used with vehicles equipped with a horizontal wide display and a vertical display.
Carplay has a prerequisite that you must use the iPhone. Currently, it is impossible for Android phone users to use CarPlay. It is expected that more people will be able to easily access CarPlay, etc. only when Apple develops a vehicle OS that can be used without an iPhone.
If this approach is possible, the definition of an Apple car could extend beyond just premium self-driving cars to popular brands. This means that rather than simply viewing the Apple car as a single hardware (HW), the possibility of expanding it to software should also be considered.
Apple is introducing CarPlay as the’ultimate driving partner’, but the range that Carplay can still implement is all about navigation and music content. Voice recognition is possible only in Siri, and only text messages can be sent and received through the iOS message app. External apps such as KakaoTalk cannot be linked to CarPlay.
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The range of the Google Android Auto route guidance function is expanding, such as linking with the head-up display of a new BMW car. Apple doesn’t yet have a link to CarPlay’s head-up display. There are many limitations to overcome by CarPlay himself.
The direction of Apple car development is expected to be more concrete after the 8th of this month. After the 8th, the Hyundai Motor Group plans to announce an inquiry disclosure that can clarify media reports on Apple car collaboration.