Author| Yu Huiru Editor| Luo Lijuan
Apple made a car, the opening is the top stream, every move has made the industry and the media side-eyed.
Recently, Apple's news of an upgrade to the in-vehicle software system has been very lively. Last week, it was reported that Apple was working on technology that would access features such as air conditioning systems, speedometers, radios and seats. This is an iPhone-based project, code-named "IronHeart" project, which is a further upgrade to the CarPlay in-vehicle system.
Judging from the information disclosed by the media, this plan is still in its early stages. If the software is actually upgraded, it may mean that different cars have different levels of functional support. But if Apple wants to implement this interconnection function, it needs to cooperate with automakers. Coincidentally, in the middle of last month, Doug Field, apple's top car chief, moved to Ford, and his successor was Kevin Lynch, who was praised for the success of watchOS software.
Combined with Apple's series of actions, industry analysts said that if the "IronHeart" plan is true, it means that Apple is down to the underlying control system of smart cars. And compared to the difficult car hardware, software can make money for Apple first.
For now, Apple's model is similar to Huawei's "Inside" model.
According to Huawei's own explanation, Huawei Inside is a smart car jointly defined and jointly developed by Huawei and car companies, equipped with Huawei's full-stack intelligent car solution. Today, there are already three car companies participating in the Huawei Inside model, Changan, BAIC and GAC.
However, unlike Huawei's repeated declarations of "no car construction", Apple's earliest ambition to enter the automotive field is to "develop its own electric vehicles". There are even market rumors that Apple's first electric car is scheduled to be mass-produced and launched in 2024.
Nowadays, it seems that Apple's car has to "curve to save the country".
<h2>CarPlay "Evolution"</h2>
At present, users can listen to songs and navigate on CarPlay, but to understand the vehicle information, they also need to jump to the native in-vehicle system.
Unlike CarPlay, which is only an in-car entertainment system and does not connect to the vehicle control center. IronHeart is connected to the control center of the car through systems, tools, etc., so as to complete the control of the vehicle system.
According to relevant revelations, IronHeart's main functions include: temperature and humidity data inside and outside the car; temperature zone, fan and defrost system; adjusting the settings of surround sound speakers, equalizers, tweeters, subwoofers and fade in and out and balance; seat settings; speedometer, speedometer and fuel gauge group.
In the past, Apple users complained that they needed to jump back and forth between CarPlay and the car's built-in systems to manage critical controls. IronHeart may alleviate this embarrassment.
From this point of view, IronHeart is the evolution of CarPlay, and Apple's in-vehicle system has also been upgraded from a traditional entertainment system to an intelligent car control system.
The prototype of CarPlay dates back to 2013.
At that time, Apple's iOS in the car plan was exposed, and in order to make this plan run smoothly, Apple set up a shell company called CarPlay, CarPlay Enterprises, which was mainly responsible for CarPlay's trademark application.
The following year, Apple officially renamed iOS in the car to CarPlay. It was also launched at the Geneva International Motor Show. At that show, Mercedes-Benz unveiled a new model equipped with the CarPlay.
As long as the user connects the iPhone to the CarPlay-enabled car, it can support third-party applications such as phone, music, maps, messages, etc., and can be controlled through Siri and the car touch screen. This convenient interactive experience makes CarPlay the darling of many car manufacturers, following in the footsteps of Mercedes-Benz, Ferrari, BMW, Ford, General Motors, Honda and other manufacturers also use CarPlay as one of the new car configurations.
In the years since, CarPlay has been updated but not amazing.
In 2018, the updated CarPlay can support third-party navigation, including Baidu Maps, Google Maps, AutoNavi Maps, etc.; in 2019, the updated CarPlay can display multiple apps in one screen, such as maps, music, calendars, etc., while also making more compatibility and usability improvements in iOS13.
IronHeart may represent apple's most powerful upgrade in history since the release of CarPlay in 2014.
The plan to upgrade CarPlay to IronHeart confirms this view.
Wang Xianbin, a senior analyst at the Gaz Automotive Research Institute, said in an interview with the media that IronHeart can further deepen the function of CarPlay and help Apple explore from the on-board central control system to the underlying operating system at the software level, and connect with the car hardware and driving data.
However, as a central control system, the on-board operating system controls the entire data center of the car and plays a vital role for car companies.
The success of Apple's IronHeart program depends largely on whether automakers are willing to work with it.
According to the data disclosed by Apple, after 7 years of launch, CarPlay's results are quite satisfactory. According to data released by Apple, more than 80% of new cars sold worldwide last year supported CarPlay, with at least 600 models. These include models of well-known car brands such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Audi.
<h2>The change of Apple's car</h2>
Apple's car-making plans have been confusing.
Since the exposure of the "Titan Plan" in 2014, the market has talked about the trend of Apple's car every year, but it is only in the speculation stage, for the car, Apple almost never officially responds to any information.
Judging from the information reported by the media, Apple's internal car manufacturing matter is focused on vehicle manufacturing or software systems, which has been repeatedly modified several times, and no exact product has been released.
According to media reports, at the beginning of the exposure of the "Titan Project", Apple concentrated on hardware and was committed to manufacturing complete vehicles.
At the height of the rumors of the "Titan Project," McKinsey gave a staggering valuation prediction for the project: by 2030, the Apple Titan project could be worth about $6.7 trillion. You know, as of now, Apple's market value is only $2.3 trillion.
Soon, however, The Apple car project exploded with negative information. In 2016, according to foreign media reports, Apple affected the development of the automotive project due to internal conflicts, leadership issues and other controversies. There are even rumors that Apple intends to suspend the car project.
In 2017, Apple shifted its focus to autonomous driving. A year later, the information was confirmed in a public interview with Cook. In an interview in November 2018, Cook publicly acknowledged the fact that Apple was developing software systems for self-driving cars.
The turmoil continued, and in early 2019, news broke that Apple had cut more than 200 employees from its self-driving team, most of whom had been assigned to other project teams. In June of the same year, Apple acquired Drive.ar, a self-driving startup, and hired a large number of the company's employees into the self-driving car project.
The sequelae of the "seven-year itch" of Apple's car-making project continue. This year, in just 7 months, 4 key executives left.
Last month, Doug Field, apple's top head of cars, jumped to Ford, adding to the already thorny road to Apple's car..
Also executives who left Befield's auto project include Benjamin Leon, senior sensor manager who helped set up Apple's self-driving car team, Jamie Weedow, head of Apple's self-driving car safety and regulation team, and Dave Sko, head of Apple's automotive-related robotics team.
Interestingly, Field told the media in a recent interview that he was happy to return to a car manufacturer with long-term operating experience. In his opinion, starting a brand new car company or starting a completely new car project from scratch is a cool thing to do. However, most of these new projects lack sustained resources and stamina.
Two days after Field's official departure, Apple arranged for a new successor, WatchOS project executive Kevin Lynch. This is also the most recent major adjustment of the Titan Project.
Looking at Lynch's resume, it can be found that although he is a veteran of Apple, he is a "layman" in the automotive industry.
Having worked for Adobe for many years, Lynch joined Apple in 2013 to oversee related work on the company's smartwatches and health products. It is reported that in July this year, Lynch has begun to participate in the car project to assist in the development of software.
After officially taking over the top-level responsibility, Lynch still reports to Jeff Williams, Apple's chief operating officer. Field, on the other hand, had previously reported to John Giannandrea, the head of artificial intelligence.
The focus of Apple's project has changed — more focused on developing the basic software needed for self-driving cars to drive on the road.
<h2>Xiaomi mode or Huawei mode? </h2>
Cell phone companies that don't build cars are not good tech companies.
Today, Apple, Huawei, Xiaomi, etc. have all met on the track of smart cars.
In this regard, some industry insiders believe that the smart phone market dividend is gradually retreating, the smart car market is developing rapidly, and mobile phone manufacturers have taken a fancy to the latter's huge market prospects; in addition, mobile phone manufacturers have a certain experience base in terms of intelligence and operating system in addition to having supply chain advantages.
However, compared with Apple, Huawei, Xiaomi and other head mobile phone manufacturers, they found that their gameplay in the car-making business is not the same.
Huawei, which has repeatedly emphasized that it does not build cars, has the logic of its layout to "empower" automakers and strive to integrate core technologies in the field of intelligent vehicles. Huawei's cooperation model with more car companies is to provide parts and solutions in the form of tier1 or tier2.
Specifically, Huawei Inside includes intelligent car digital architecture, intelligent cockpit, intelligent driving, intelligent networking, intelligent electric, intelligent car cloud and more than 30 intelligent components, including almost all the core technologies of intelligent electric vehicles.
Car companies cooperating with Huawei will have Hi Car logo certification on the body. At present, there are three car companies participating in this cooperation model, Changan, BAIC and GAC, and their cooperation with Huawei has launched cooperative sub-brands equipped with Huawei's full suite of solutions.
Compared with Apple and Huawei, xiaomi is late in coming on the track of smart cars, but its ambitions are not small.
Unlike Huawei, which only "empowers", in order to build Xiaomi cars, Lei Jun decided to "All in" again: "This is the last major entrepreneurial project in my life." I am willing to bet on all the reputation of my life and go all out to do Xiaomi Car!"
At the same time, Lei Jun said that in the next ten years, Xiaomi will invest 10 billion US dollars to build cars, and the first investment is 10 billion yuan.
At the beginning of last month, Xiaomi Automobile completed its industrial and commercial registration and settled in Beijing Yizhuang Economic and Technological Development Zone. As on the day Lei Jun announced the car, he personally served as the executive director and manager of Xiaomi Automobile.
For Xiaomi, which lacks a foundation, investing in and acquiring related industrial chains is a fast and effective shortcut. Since June this year, Xiaomi has opened the "buy, buy, buy" mode, and automatic driving has become its key layout object. Including leading the investment in domestic autonomous driving supplier Zhongmu Technology, and investing in LiDAR company Hesai Technology.
On August 25, Xiaomi announced the acquisition of shenzhen technology company, Shenzhen Motion Technology, a self-driving technology company, for a total transaction value of about 503 million yuan, which became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Xiaomi.
Xiaomi told the media that in the past few months, its automotive team has conducted more than 2,000 research interviews, visited and in-depth communication with more than 10 industry peers and dozens of industry partners. So far, it has received more than 20,000 resumes and has assembled a team of about 300 people.
Perhaps it is not long after the start, Xiaomi car has not yet appeared "jump ticket" news.
After all, compared with Apple, which has been "building cars" for 8 years, it is more like transforming from the "millet model" to the "Huawei model", which has concentrated on vehicle manufacturing, but under the situation that hardware is difficult to produce, it will shift its focus to basic software. But for Apple, which has cooperated with many car companies in the industry, it is not a kind of "curve to save the country" that exerts its own advantages.
However, in the automotive field, it has failed to support the high expectations of the outside world - Apple has not yet shown a similar superior position as smart terminals. In addition to new forces such as Tesla and Wei Xiaoli, large traditional car companies in transition, Mercedes-Benz and BMW, as well as the internet and technology companies with the same intelligent advantages, there are also large-scale entry.
For example, OPPO has laid out 3,000 + patents in the field of internet of vehicles, and promoted the progress of the industrial chain and talent resources; Sony has completed the development of vision-S prototypes and started public road tests in Europe.
With the convening of the autumn conference, Apple may once again dominate the ranking of various intelligent terminals. But on the track of car building, there is not much time left for Apple.
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