Britain's "Daily Mail" conducted an inventory in 2014 and rated the "world's seven major projects": there are amusement parks that have been stopped due to land disputes, hotels that have been shelved indefinitely due to quality defects, and artificial archipelagos that have been abandoned due to financial crisis and abandonment. After 8 years, if the Daily Mail considers updating this list, Apple's car-making project may come into their field of vision.
In February, Bloomberg reported that Joe Bass, head of software engineering in Apple's automotive division, recently left Apple, where he had worked for seven years, to work as a project director at Meta. After Bath left, Apple's car-making team just formed in 2021 was almost only the head of the kevin Lynch, the "light rod commander".
Recently, Guo Mingpei, an analyst at Tianfeng Securities who has in-depth research on Apple-related news, also confirmed the news. He broke the news that Apple's Apple Car team has been disbanded for a while, and if it still wants to achieve the goal of mass production in 2025, then Apple needs to complete the team restructuring within 3-6 months.
This is not the first personnel change for apple cars team. In 2014, Apple's "Titan Plan" plan to build cars surfaced, and in the past 7 years, Apple has frequently recruited executives from Tesla, BMW and other projects, and has continuously drawn talents from other departments. But Apple seems to have been unhappy with the composition of the team, replacing 5 supervisors in 7 years (if this news is true, it will be 6th).
Previously, some media believed that 2022 is an extremely critical year for Apple cars, and it can even be said that the success or failure of the project depends on the performance of this year. Judging from the current news, its prospects are not optimistic.
The frequent changes in the top level are only a manifestation of Apple's "difficult production", and Apple's grasp of timing and even its own business philosophy are the core reasons for its difficulties in the automotive field.
Get up early in the morning, don't rush to the late set
Apple itself is full of talent, the car project has been launched as early as 2014, and the United States is one of the two fastest growing countries in the world's autonomous driving industry. Logically, the time and place are in hand, and a giant like Apple should not be unproductive after nearly 8 years.
Since Cook took office, Apple's style has tended to "not use immature technology," but that style has largely left them missing out on self-driving.
For many years, the supervision of autonomous driving in the United States has remained in the "one eye and one eye" stage, and the National Transportation Safety Board, which is responsible for reviewing qualifications, has not required companies to submit any specific data in order to encourage companies to innovate. Under such conditions, autonomous driving test vehicles of major companies frequently appear on the roads of major cities in the United States.
Logically, for a company like Apple, it should not be difficult to produce a batch of test vehicles, but I don't know whether it is due to technical limitations or strategy, compared with opponents, Apple has been in a state of immobility. As of 2020, Google's Waymo has accumulated 630,000 miles, while Apple's test mileage is only 19,000 miles. Plus, Waymo travels an average of 30,000 miles with drivers involved, while Apple has only a pitiful 145 miles.
Recently, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued the "Driverless Car Passenger Protection Regulations", confirming that fully autonomous vehicles will not need to be mandatory to be equipped with traditional steering wheels, accelerator pedals and other manual devices in the future. This also means that we are getting closer and closer to the pace of large-scale commercialization of autonomous driving in the United States.
On the other hand, the regulatory environment for autonomous driving in the United States is quietly tightening. Since last year, regulators in many parts of the United States have begun to be cautious about autonomous driving and are ready to implement relevant legislation. As commercialization approaches, U.S. regulatory attention on autonomous driving has begun to shift to safety.
Over the past few years, apple has been a great opportunity to test self-driving technology and accumulate data and experience, but Apple has let it slip away. Even if Apple can mass-produce self-driving cars in 2025 according to its previous plan, how sure is Apple to stand out in the face of a rising market?
A "food for the old" change-maker
In the Jobs era, Apple was known for its radical design and enterprising style, whether it was the iPhone that defined the smartphone, the iPad that created a new category, or the MacBook Air that was thin enough to fit into an envelope, all of which were practitioners of Jobs's maxim that "to live is to change the world".
By the Cook era, Apple's strategy had changed significantly, and the changes were still there, but there were far fewer surprises. In terms of product categories, in the more than ten years since Cook took office, the only "one more thing" released by Apple is the Apple Watch, and only accessories such as AirPods and Apple Pencil can be called new product forms. The A-series chips and M1 processors certainly prove Apple's powerful technical capabilities, but this is more like an improvement on existing products than a creation from scratch.
Admittedly, Cook's job is not a bad job, under his command, Apple has not repeatedly experienced financial crises like in the Jobs era, but has become a super giant with a market value of $3 trillion and the world's largest cash flow. However, Cook's relatively calm business philosophy is how helpful it is to open up new markets such as automobiles, and it still needs to draw a big question mark.
In addition, Apple's business philosophy may also become a double-edged sword. Cook was named a successor by Jobs because of his excellent supply chain management skills. Today, Apple's ability to control the supply chain is one of the best in the technology industry, and Cook has also received a "stock buster" nickname.
However, the automobile is a far more complex industry than mobile phones and computers. Apple has neither its own factory nor relevant production experience, so it is bound to rely more on cooperation with automakers. But the problem is that today's mainstream car brands, no one will be willing to be Apple's assembly plant.
According to Japanese media reports, Apple has previously contacted six automakers, including Hyundai and Nissan, but eventually fell out. After all, in the era of "software-defined cars", any traditional car manufacturer will not be happy to see the rapid rise of a company with a huge user base and intelligent development potential such as Apple, and it will not "play for the tiger".
Even in the face of single component suppliers, Apple's voice is not as strong as in the digital field. According to reports, Apple has contacted SUPPLIERS SUCH ASD and NINGDE Times to discuss cooperation related to power batteries, but it eventually ended because both companies were unwilling to build factories in the United States.
So it seems that there are not many options left for Apple at present, and Foxconn, a partner in the mobile phone field for many years, may be one, but they are almost starting from scratch and may not meet Apple's requirements. And from the current news, Foxconn also hopes to be able to build its own car, which also casts a shadow on the prospects of cooperation between the two sides in this field.
Over the years, although Apple's car manufacturing has progressed slowly, it is still generally optimistic about the outside world. However, after years of pulling, Apple seems to have shown some signs of "external strength and middle dryness" in the automotive field. Today, Apple cars are on the verge of a "life and death line". It can be said that whether Apple Cars can realize the dream of 2025 depends on whether a miracle can occur in the next few months.