Apple Car Chatter Intensifies – What It Could Mean
By Edward A. Sanchez – Dec. 21, 2020
Ever since 2014, there has been internet chatter about a possible “Apple Car” and multiple reports about the company’s “Project Titan,” which most believed to be a vehicle of some sort. The first wave of Apple Car mania reached its peak in April 2016, when MotorTrend magazine posted a commissioned rendering of what it believed an Apple Car could look like on its website, and even went so far as to put it on the cover of its June 2016 print issue. Reaction from its audience was unfavorable, to say the least. After the first wave of Apple Car buzz arguably “jumped the shark,” the interwebs largely went silent on the matter for a period. But within the last few months, chatter about an Apple Car has started simmering again.
Looking at the Google Trends chart for “Apple Car,” the term reached its highest level in August 2020 since its previous high of September 2015. Within the last few months, speculation has mostly centered around Apple reportedly approaching TSMC about making a custom chip for autonomous driving, as well as Apple developing a turnkey augmented-reality infotainment suite which it would sell to automotive OEMs, presumably to counter Google’s aggressive entry into the automotive market with Android Automotive OS (as distinct from the Android Auto smartphone projection app.)
It seems the analyst community is backing down somewhat from its original assumption that Apple was developing and planning to sell a full-fledged Apple-branded vehicle, but rather offering custom software and hardware solutions to OEMs. But at the same time, the prospect for an actual Apple Car hasn’t totally disappeared, and some have even gone so far as to say an Apple Car would be the only vehicle that could possibly counter the investor community buzz surrounding Tesla. The target launch date most keyboard warriors are throwing out there is 2023-’25.
Regardless of whether the Apple Car is real or not, the fact of the matter is, if it’s going to be a real product, produced in real quantities, Apple needs to find a manufacturing partner. Although Apple is a seller of branded hardware, the company does almost none of its own manufacturing, instead relying overwhelmingly on contract manufacturers such as Foxconn and TSMC. Likewise, for an item as large and complex as a car, they’d need to partner with a company that at least has some semblance of a brick-and-mortar manufacturing operation.
I’m just going to throw this out here right now: I think Apple should partner with, or at least initiate discussions with Lucid. Let’s look at the lay of the land: Rivian is already deeply entwined with Amazon with the funding it has received, and its advance order for hundreds of thousands of Prime Vans, built by Rivian. Tesla? Hmm – on the surface, it would seem like a natural fit, with both companies based in Silicon Valley (for now), and both recognized design and technology leaders in their field. However, I just see Musk and Cook clashing too much for it to be a functional, productive relationship.
If Apple is going to partner with any EV manufacturer, Lucid is a solid choice.
As of now, Lucid doesn’t have a “dance partner” of note, other than the Saudi Arabia sovereign wealth fund. If I had to guess what most of the Saudi royals have in their pocket, I would venture it’s an iPhone, despite multiple attempts at “luxury” mobile phones from other vendors. Both Lucid and Apple have a luxurious, upscale aesthetic, and a focus on user experience. Although Lucid is not yet manufacturing at scale, a multi-billion-dollar infusion from Cupertino could certainly serve as a catalyst to fast-forward that process.
Is this purely armchair-quarterback speculation on my part? Absolutely? Could I be completely off? Absolutely. But could I be right? Maybe. We’ll see. And if it does happen, you can say you read it here first.
(Images courtesy Lucid Motors)
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