Apple has not seen a car for eight years: "Difficulty", Cook's cold, and turbulent personnel. When will the "car dream" round?

More than a month after Apple (AAPL, a stock price of $ 14.5.86, a market value of 2.36 trillion US dollars) announced the new CarPlay vehicle interaction system, the rumored that Apple car, which has been rumored for a long time, has never seen it.

On July 11, local time, foreign media The Information exposed the latest design of Apple cars. According to the media quoted by people familiar with the matter, the latest design of this car has four inside seats, allowing passengers to talk face to face, and there is also a curved ceiling similar to the roof of Volkswagen.

The test car or code is M101. According to reports, the new version of the test car seems to be the final mass production version of Apple cars. The test car may be on the road as early as next year. For Apple, its goal is to obtain exemption from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to release vehicles without steering wheels and brake pedals.

Since Apple CEO Cook has approved the PROject Titan's electric vehicle project in 2014, Apple has explored for eight years in its misty "car dream". For eight years of car building, the car has not been seen, and the executives have changed frequently. Is it worth looking forward to Apple cars?

Photo source: Every reporter Zhang Jian (data map)

Difficult to produce a few times, fall into the "Demonstration Software" trap

The Information revealed some details about Apple cars. It is reported that the latest design of Apple Motors will have four face -to -face seats so that passengers can talk to each other; at the same time, there will be no steering wheel or brake pedal, and there is also a curved roof similar to the roof of Volkswagen.

Apple designers are also testing a luggage function. The suitcase can be raised at any time for easy use, and then automatically descended when not in use. In addition, the designers also discussed the back screen of large seats that can be lifted.

Although these design details are very interesting and eye -catching, they seem to be unrelated to the key technologies of cars. According to reports, employees of the Titan project are discussing the new version of the autonomous driving test vehicle in public testing, because its goal is to obtain exemption from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to release vehicles without steering wheels and brake pedals.

Jony Ive, the former director of Apple, believes that the Apple car team "should be aware of the weirdness of the vehicle design, not trying to hide its sensor."

Before M101, Apple did not have no road test for vehicles. In August 2021, several Apple's self -driving cars drove about 40 miles in Montana for a demonstration. Apple executives praised the demonstration very successful. They believed that this shows that Apple's autonomous cars can drive without relying on high -quality maps, and most competitors' autonomous cars need high -quality maps.

However, the good times did not last long. Not long after the aforementioned demonstration, the Titan project participants found that in the absence of a map, Apple's other test vehicle was driving hard at the streets near Apple Silicon Valley headquarters, and sometimes they hit the roadside to the roadside Sometimes it is difficult to achieve lanes when passing through the crossroads.

According to the data and people familiar with the matter submitted by Apple to the California regulatory agency, there is no high -precision map assistance, and Apple tests the problem of vehicles frequently, and human security officers have to be forced to take over many times.

In the first quarter of this year, an Apple tested vehicle almost hit a jogger. After the incident, Apple suspended the operating team for investigation. After that, the company fixed the identification problem and added a specific human sidewalk to the map database, and the team resumed operations again within a few days.

The problem of car demonstration also reflects the technical challenges facing Apple's car projects. The Information's interview with the 20 participants of the Titan project also revealed the mistakes made by Apple and most autonomous car companies. The engineer wast the time to demonstrate the time on a specific route. It is almost useless, this program is called "demonstration software".

Apple car in the swing: Cook is cold, personnel turbulent

During the 8 years after the birth of the Titan project, Cook's neglect and the continuous replacement of executives have also become the reason why the Apple Auto project has been repeatedly swaying.

According to reports, the Titan project has spent more than $ 1 billion each year in recent years. Although it seems to have burned countless money, this is just a small witch for Apple, which costs more than $ 22 billion for research and development each year.

Unlike Jobs' ambitions for car projects during his lifetime, Cook and Titan projects are more alienated. He rarely visits the Titan project office near Silicon Valley, California. According to The Information, some former Apple employees have affected the Titan project because it lacks a leader to clearly define and clarify what the product should be.

Image source: Visual China-VCG111311490807

Cook has been reluctant to promise large -scale production of cars, and project executives have begun to feel frustrated. In the past 8 years, the Titan project has undergone several changes in leadership.

When the Titan project was established in 2014, Steve Zadesky, Benjamin Lyon, John Wright and DJ Novotney senior employees formed the core of the Titan project.

However, ambitions and ambitions did not allow the healthy development of the Titan project, but in the inside, there were differences. Under the leadership of ZADESky, Apple wanted to build a traditional electric car to compete with Tesla. But others have a bigger goal -fully autonomous driving. During this period, The Information reported that the main challenge was that Apple decided to develop its own car engineering knowledge, instead of using the experience accumulated by existing car companies for decades.

At the end of 2015, the Titan project stagnated. At this time, Zadesky left the Titan project. Six months later, the retired Apple executive Bob Mansfield restarted the Titan project. Under the leadership of Mansfield, the Titan project has suspended the development of cars and focuses on fully autonomous driving software so that future Apple cars can drive without drivers.

By 2017, Apple completely fell into the trap of "demonstration software", committed to developing autonomous driving software, and then demonstrating autonomous driving software. However, according to two people participating in the work, they are not capable of expanding or increasing the function of autonomous driving software.

In 2018, DOUG FIELD, who started his career in Ford, was the vice president of Apple, and later served as an executive in Tesla, took over the project, and the team's goal became a design physical car. Although Field has excellent product experience, it lacks experience in software. Overall, Doug Field's term of office has ushered in a stable era for the Titan project.

In September 2021, Field announced his departure. Two former Apple employees said that Doug Field, like Zadesky, strives to get support from Apple's senior management in the direction of whether it can move towards the large -scale production of automobiles. He understands that Apple's autonomous driving software is far from ready, and when the autonomous driving software can be launched completely is still a major challenge. After his departure, Kevin Lynch, the head of Apple Watch, began to lead the Titan project.

In addition to the continuous replacement of the leadership, other executives of the Apple car project have also undergone multiple changes, and the continuous changes in strategic employees have exhausted employees.

Where is the market value of 2.4 trillion apples?

In 2003, Tesla (TSLA, a stock price of US $ 699.21, a market value of US $ 724.655 billion) was established. Five years later, the company had already produced its first pure electric sports car Tesla Roadster; Wei Wei, who started from the Apple Titan project, was a little later than the Apple Titan project. Come (NIO, stock price $ 20.87, a market value of 32.862 billion US dollars), Xiaopeng Automobile (XPEV, a stock price of $ 29.23, a market value of $ 19.169 billion) and an ideal car (Li, a stock price of US $ 36.99, a market value of US $ 37.887 billion). Mass production, and is well -known in the global intelligent electric vehicle field.

Looking at Apple again, in the eight years after the Titan project, although the news about Apple car building continued and there are intermittent vehicle demonstration news, Apple has almost no specific progress about the car.

Regarding the confidence of Apple's car, Doug Newcomb, an expert in the field of well -known automobile technology, said in a commentary article that with a market value of nearly 2.4 trillion US dollars and cash of more than $ 200 billion, Apple has resources to challenge the old car companies. You can even start with Tesla. Moreover, Apple has a number of patents in terms of autonomous driving, power systems, vehicle systems and body structure. Therefore, in terms of funds and technical reserves, Apple has certain advantages in car building.

"But a lot of funds and technical expertise cannot be transformed into the success of the automotive industry. Looking at Google, it tried to build a car a few years ago -but failed," Newcomb wrote. He was pessimistic about Apple's "dream -making dream". He also said that it would be a huge mistake to make a car for other companies to make a car for him.

"The automotive industry has a complex supply chain, the cost is extremely high but the profit margin is low. The products also need for decades of parts and service support for enterprises, and they are facing almost the most heavy supervision of all industries. A field will face a lot of difficulties, "he wrote. "In contrast, the products and services developed and sold under Apple's current major profit business segments have a highly controllable and closed supply chain, the product life is several years, the change is faster, and the supervision burden is relatively light. "

As mentioned earlier, Apple's difficulty comes from Apple's decision to develop its own car engineering knowledge, instead of using the experience accumulated by existing car companies for decades. The company's autonomous driving software is far from ready. When it can completely launch its autonomous driving technology is still a major challenge.

In contrast, although the hardware ability has always been a flaw, Google has experienced the failure of the car, but the Waymo autonomous driving system is the trump card in its hands. In terms of commercialization of autonomous driving, Waymo launched commercial services, including Waymo Via of Waymo One and Robotruck of Robotaxi.

For Apple, there may be a long way to go to the ambition of car building.

Cover picture source: Every reporter Zhang Jian (data map)

Daily Economic News

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