“If Bloomberg is right that Apple plans to launch a car by 2020, I think it’s important to recognize what form that car will and won’t take,” Ben Lovejoy writes for 9to5Mac.
“Let’s start with the obvious things we can expect from an Apple Car. Of course, it will be electric. That’s a no-brainer,” Lovejoy writes. “Of course, it will be beautiful. Whether Apple is targeting a sleek sportscar or practical people-carrier, the styling will be gorgeous.”
“Hi-tech. Great user-interface. A companion app. Some cool driver aids, probably using that self-driving terminology,” Lovejoy writes. “But not, in five years time, anything close to a fully automomous car.”
Read more in the full article here.
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And in line with Apple pricing, $200,000
Which will seem high, until an honest TCO analysis is done. Then it will be seen as an absolute bargain.
And you’ll take two, right?!
Or, like I’ve seen with the iPhone, one who purchases a new model year every release… : )
That iPhone replacement model was pretty much driven by the carrier subsidy pricing with the embedded cost recovery priced into your monthly service fee. Since the service fee never got any lower after the original device cost was recovered, about 2 years, might as well have a new one, actually kind of dumb not to. That model is going away for iPhones and will be history by the time an AppleWagen is available.
I’ll probably use my existing automobile replacement model. Drive until no longer cost effective, then replace.
I had a spine chilling vision while I was typing the first paragraph. What if all the roads were owned by private companies and you had to get a car from them to use the roads and were required to pay a monthly fee to use the car at all. That is a pretty stupid idea. Everybody knows that roads are infrastructure. Wonder why communication connectivity isn’t infrastructure too?
+1 for AppleWagen
If Apple competitors follow and make their own cars, the will sell them as Buy One/Get One Free!
Crazy…this is an absolutely crazy rumor. The folks at Apple but be laughing their asses off.
Car entertainment systems – Definitely!
Car control, communication, tracking, and infotainment – Maybe.
Build total car – are you people crazy????
Here’s to the crazy ones…
Whether they’re building a whole car or not, is it really that crazy? Especially given that we seem to be entering a new phase of car propulsion and technology.
Yes, I think it is crazy. If all of these rumors turn out to be even close to true, I will gladly admit I was wrong. But right now, I think the idea of Apple becoming a car manufacturer—let alone in just five years—is ludicrous.
Self-driving cars happen one of three ways…
1) Special lanes are set aside just for self-driving cars. These lanes probably have physical dividers to keep everyone else off.
2) the cars hover above the ground, this removing most complications of driving, like potholes, pedestrians, train tracks, construction. This would make number one above even easier. Of course making a self-flying car would require a complete rethink of what a personal transportation device would be.
3) Computers become conscious.
if you think you can see a pothole or pedestrian in the dark better than a computer camera, then you are Tron.
>Of course making a self-flying car would require a complete rethink of what a personal transportation device would be.
And a minor adjustment to the laws of physics. But if anybody can do that, it would be Apple.
Definitely a separate lane for the Windows cars, which will be crashing and freezing up, or being hacked every 5 minutes. The Fragment-droid cars would never get on the road.
And to think that years ago people were telling jokes along the lines of “If computers were automobiles…” or Steve Jobs talking about Macs being the BMW of computers.
So the guy above is right, if understated, to think it would be absolutely crazy.
They have tested autonomous vehicles here in San Diego on a stretch of I-15. It is entirely possible to make it happen today as a “mode” of driving. The sensors are built into the roadway. A beginning, yes.
I personally do not see an Apple Car being viable as we all imagine Apple designing a car, until a lot of basic assumptions about our society are changed.
Expect no car!
If they want to sell many in Minnesota it should have all-wheel drive and a battery that can make it through -40F.
This is my concern. I hope the people in beautiful California take into consideration snow covered streets hiding lane markings and cold weather effects batteries.
Not to mention longer distances. In cities everything is close by. In the midwest, we drive longer distances to get to places. Denver is eight hours away, Kansas City is three hours away, Chicago is seven hours away.
A pure electric car is not an option for us.
Exactly.
And just try and drive coast to coast.
With a stop every 600-700 miles for 12+ hours to charge..
The “what we can expect” articles are bad enough when they talk about unreleased confirmed products. This is ridiculous.
Windows?
If it does have windows, Bill Gates will want his cut. 😉
In true (recent) Apple form, the transmission will be premium quality, but will come welded on to the vehicle. When it wears out, you won’t be able to replace it or otherwise extend the life of the vehicle – just throw the whole car away and start over.
Actually, it’s Apple Cart we are working on, not an Apple Car.
We are sorry about the Typo.
We wanted a hot secretary who could type. Being hot was much more important than the typing thing.
If they were to build a car I would be surprised if it were all electric since they are so naturally limited. Of course if they can come up with a 250 mile range with 10 minute charging they might have a product that meets their standards.