Why Apple’s Electric Vehicle Industry Is Tense Chun-Ho Oh’s Global View

The report that Apple will enter the electric vehicle market on the 22nd is surprising the global automobile industry. Considering that Apple started developing self-driving cars with the’Titan Project’ in 2014, some view it as a natural step, but others believe that Apple will not easily jump into a capital-intensive business with low margins.

Electric vehicles have been regarded as a competition for batteries. Experts observe that Apple will also produce a new concept of batteries in new electric vehicles. But the software is as important as the battery. Tesla, Nio and Xiaofeng of China also prefer to be called software companies while being electric car makers. There is no reason for Apple, whose main focus is software, to refuse electric vehicles. Many experts believe that by developing software that is more powerful than these, it can present a vehicle with a different concept than a car. In particular, it will develop software that can control speed and safety at the same time. Andrew Keane, author of’Digital Dizziness’, said, “The success of the Apple smartphone is to create a software product that combines software well in hardware,” he said. “Can an electric car without an engine be called a car?”

Toyota and GM also focus on software

The wind of automotive software is already shaking the global automotive industry. Japan’s Toyota Motor Company President Akio Toyota said that he recently criticized the Yoshihide Suga government’s carbon neutrality policy and banning the sale of new gasoline cars as chairman of the Japan Automobile Industry Association. They expressed concern, saying that these policies “will destroy the business model of the automobile industry.”

Toyota’s president also said that making cars into electric cars does not reduce carbon dioxide emissions, and opposes shifting the automobile market to electric cars. This remark by President Toyoda is quite different from the usual opinion that it is necessary to get on it, saying,’Now is the era of revolution that comes once in 100 years.’ He has been emphasizing that from several years ago, automakers should be software-based, and Toyota should also become a software company. However, turning a company that produced and sold internal combustion engines into a software company, as he said, may be a difficult task that requires completely changing the business model. Toyota’s not yet mass-produced electric vehicles can fit into this context. It is also the fact that hardware makers confessed that it is difficult to switch to software.

GM also announced last month that it would hire 3,000 software personnel for electric vehicles by spring 2021. GM President Mark Ruth said in announcing the recruitment of software personnel, “It will be an opportunity to demonstrate its commitment to developing the software that is necessary for GM to lead in the electric vehicle field.” This is a very rare case for GM to employ soft manpower at once. They are said to be guaranteed the opportunity to work from home. As such, GM is also realizing the urgency of its soft workforce.

SW is a double-edged sword in the tea industry

Tesla, a leader in electric vehicles, is also currently employing software personnel. Tesla is also the first company to experience the power of software while selling electric vehicles. Tesla’s electric car has already had several major accidents in the United States, and in Korea, a fire accident on the 9th caused an accident in which valuable humans were killed. In an emergency, the door does not open and the person in the car does not come out, and the door is opened and closed by receiving power from the battery, so it is seen as a battery defect, but most experts see it as a software defect.

The 737 Max, which Boeing introduced as a high-tech model, killed 346 people in two catastrophes in Indonesia and Ethiopia in October 2018 and March last year, also awakening the importance of software. It was a long time ago that major software flaws were reported on this model, but Boeing is said to have caused an accident in procrastination. Boeing didn’t really know how to handle the software.

Now, in the mobility industry, software has become an indispensable core element and a blade that must be handled carefully. This is also the reason the automakers are nervous about the software that Apple provides. Tesla CEO Elon Musk said “It’s strange” to the news of Apple’s EV development, which is also a testament to the tension. There are many predictions that Japanese electronics company Sony will also release a new concept of electric vehicle. Existing automobile industry as well as electronics and software companies are jumping into the electric vehicle market, predicting a new game in the market.

Hardware companies such as HP and Panasonic, Nokia Dell, etc. have suffered because they could not develop their own software in the end. Keen’s point that the value of industry eventually comes from the power of software in the 4th Industrial Revolution is getting less and less correct.

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