Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Apple Cancels Electric Car Project

Thank goodness. Apple took this turkey out back and shot it!

Now go develop something that fits into the Apple core competencies. Like a high-end stereo system, or a HomeKit bridge to allow all smart devices, without the rigamarole of 3rd party hardware! I have more.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Someyoungguy, Victor Mortimer and Royksöpp
Eso said:
2,000 employees * $100k/year salary * 10 years =

$2 billion

If the Apple Vision Pro is a financial flop as well, we will be seeing a new CEO pretty soon.
Click to expand...
100k/year lol. More like 175-350k/year. More for higher level engineers.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: Jumpthesnark
mysticmanix said:
The iPhone of EVs already exists: Tesla, and Tim Cook realized that. Whenever people say they want an EV, they actually mean a Tesla. This is why Ford, GM, Mercedes have all failed miserably in comparison. The only competition is with Chinese EV companies and that's only for their domestic market.
Click to expand...
Tesla isn't the iPhone of EVs...and to suggest other automakers have failed with exception to Chinese companies is hilarious.
 
  • Like
Reactions: RodThePlod, Mescagnus, Victor Mortimer and 1 other person
I think Apple's mistake was not buying Tesla back in 2013. For Apple to release their own car today they'd have to be better than Tesla at battery tech, motor/drive-train tech, vehicle software, and self-driving..all while making a profit at the same time and building up an extensive service network. The only thing I think Apple can probably do better is software, but Tesla's software is still excellent.

I think Apple had a lot of potential in the early 2010s to turn this project into something, but it's gotten to the point where it just doesn't make sense.

It's incredibly difficult to build a mass-market (~$45K) car that turns a profit, and Tesla doesn't get enough credit for being able to bring the 3/Y to market AND make a solid profit off each car sold.

And each car on the road is collecting and sharing data which also gave them a huge leg up with full self-driving. Apple would have to compete with Tesla who has billions of miles and millions of videos worth of training data that Apple just has no way of reaching.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: bluecoast
The project was canned when they couldn't get Stage Manager to run correctly on it.

In all seriousness, I think that they have woken up to that Gen AI is going to be THE growth area of the next 10+ years

There's no particular value that Apple could bring to electric cars when it became clear that self driving tech was just too hard - and would probably get Apple sued to oblivion when the first few accidents started to happen.

And now that every existing company is making them, plus BYD in China, what could Apple add as a late entrant?

An embarrassing climbdown though.

I can see Tim Cook retiring soon now, as it feels time for him to go. I expect he'll announce 'Siri GPT' and hand over the reins.
 
Self driving cars is a fantasy, too many variables in road conditions. Self-driving cars will be needed, however, when we have flying cars. The reason is that only the car would know the “lanes” to be in. If this cancellation is true, I am sad, but I would also like to see the prototypes that they were envisioning. I guess I will have to settle for a car with a good CarPlay set up. Hopefully, Apple got some benefit out of this research, such as being able to improve the Maps app and maybe the work with Lidar scanners will help their other projects.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: Victor Mortimer
OrenLindsey said:
Here's something I saw somewhere else and I think it's worth considering: Vision Pro by their own thinking and sales estimates is a niche device and will be for years. With the Car out, what is Apple's next growth driver? AI for iPhones will be a buoy I guess, but the smartphone market has settled into a steady plateau.
Click to expand...
AppleCoin is still an option, with Apple Silicon mining rigs.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: Victor Mortimer and arkitect
I'd encourage everyone posting about how EV cars are a joke to watch the report on China that 60 Minutes presented this past Sunday. Chinese EV manufacturers are already at least one to two generations ahead of us in solving most of the problems EV's first had. The biggest one, range anxiety, appears to be moot since they have a battery that can deliver 600 miles per charge. The problem with long charging times is resolved with car designs that allow for batteries to be simply swapped out for fresh ones instead of waiting for them to be refilled, a process they claim takes 2min30sec. And a map of China showed a network of battery charging/swap out stations much more developed than anything we have here. Tesla handed over the technology and the Chinese ran with it. Meanwhile we sat around bitching about the price of gas.
 
  • Like
  • Haha
  • Love
Reactions: jmpstar, marstan, Victor Mortimer and 2 others
vegetassj4 said:
That's because everytime they updated carOS:
  • the UI changed,
  • The dash display would suffer from jelly scrolling
  • the car would turn off when you got a Telugu text,
  • carOS would have to index for 2 days before you got full performance again
  • The car would shut down with 30% battery remaining
  • the HVAC would get the temperature wrong and blow hot air
  • the battery would drain too fast for whatever reason
On a positive note: Safari got snappier with every update

:ducking and running from an angry mob with pitchforks and torches:
Click to expand...
You make a good point.

Is the 'move fast and break things' Silicon Valley software culture, really a good fit for making software for vehicles with features that absolutely have to work all of the time.

I would argue 'no'.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Victor Mortimer and vegetassj4
Mac Fly (film) said:
Millions they invested? Their investment in Chinese ride-sharing company Didi Chuxing was $1B by itself.
Click to expand...

Sunk costs. All that matters is what will it cost to continue and what is the expected ROI. Sounds like it was too much and not enough, respectfully.
 
jz0309 said:
today they cost more to buy - that ill change over time
cost to refill - they are cheaper. I'm in CA and pay ~ $13 to charge my Bolt EUV to get ~ 250 miles. $13 today let's me buy ~ 3 gallons of gasoline in CA - point to the car (ICE) that goes 250 miles with 3 gallons.
An Ioniq 5 or 6 takes less than 20 min for ~ 180 miles of range, sure, longer than refilling an ICE but technology is improving.
look at statistics of car fires and you will find that EVs are NOT more prone to fires ...

"Worst of all, they are a proven danger to society." - LMAO
Click to expand...
Not to mention... the gas industry is going away, at least in its current form. Queue heads exploding and anger posts...
 
  • Love
  • Like
Reactions: jmpstar, Jumpthesnark and Victor Mortimer
OrenLindsey said:
Here's something I saw somewhere else and I think it's worth considering: Vision Pro by their own thinking and sales estimates is a niche device and will be for years. With the Car out, what is Apple's next growth driver? AI for iPhones will be a buoy I guess, but the smartphone market has settled into a steady plateau.
Click to expand...
I imagine with Gen AI, they can see the scope for a whole host of personal devices that help you through your day. I think that we can expect to see an Apple Ring sooner or later, for example. Ditto a proper home hub.

I think that this is the key - Apple make personal devices. A car isn't one.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ToyoCorollaGR
dbwie said:
Self driving cars is a fantasy, too many variables in road conditions. Self-driving cars will be needed, however, when we have flying cars. The reason is that only the car would know the “lanes” to be in. If this cancellation is true, I am sad, but I would also like to see the prototypes that they were envisioning. I guess I will have to settle for a car with a good CarPlay set up. Hopefully, Apple got some benefit out of this research, such as being able to improve the Maps app and maybe the work with Lidar scanners will help their other projects.
Click to expand...
Watch some Tesla FSD V12 videos on YouTube. It's excellent and improving rapidly. It has a long way to go before it's fully hands free, but it's absolutely not a fantasy.
 
  • Haha
  • Like
Reactions: huge_apple_fangirl, minik, Mescagnus and 4 others
This is the 3rd or 4th time I've heard that the program is cancelled. I am not sure I believe it anymore.
 
dbwie said:
Self driving cars is a fantasy, too many variables in road conditions. Self-driving cars will be needed, however, when we have flying cars. The reason is that only the car would know the “lanes” to be in. If this cancellation is true, I am sad, but I would also like to see the prototypes that they were envisioning. I guess I will have to settle for a car with a good CarPlay set up. Hopefully, Apple got some benefit out of this research, such as being able to improve the Maps app and maybe the work with Lidar scanners will help their other projects.
Click to expand...
It will never exist, because the lawyers and the law will never be able to determine who is at fault in an accident. Can the passenger of a self-driving car be held liable? If not, maybe we can get rid of car insurance (never happen). Certainly, the manufactures of the car do not want to place that burden of liability on themselves.
 
  • Like
  • Haha
Reactions: Exponent, dbwie, Mescagnus and 3 others
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back