In its latest bid to finally launch an Apple car in the coming years, Apple didn’t turn to a tech world expert, but rather to someone who knows how to buld vehicles, former Ford Motor Co. executive Desi Ujkashevic.
Christiaan Hetzner for Fortune:
CEO Tim Cook sought help from someone steeped in the traditions of Detroit’s unionized auto industry, written off by Wall Street in recent years as an obsolete, value-destroying dinosaur ripe for disruption by fast movers in Silicon Valley.
According to a report in Bloomberg that Apple declined to confirm, the California-based company recruited former Ford executive Desi Ujkashevic to help it bring to market a self-driving vehicle as soon as 2025.
What her role at Apple’s on-again, off-again car project will be precisely was not specified…
While it would be a stretch to say Ujkashevic is a household name among carmakers, an industry source that has known her for years characterized her as a manager with impeccable soft skills likely picked for her expertise in the labyrinthine field of safety and compliance laws.
“You cannot underestimate the enormous amount of work that goes into making a vehicle compliant with various regulatory regimes around the world. It’s an inescapable part of the industry — you just cannot get around it,” the person said.
MacDailyNews Take: Finally, Apple seems to be getting closer to unveiling “Apple Car,” since you can’t sell a vehicle if it’s not compliant with the various and sundry government regulations around the world.
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The current top issue with all-electric car is NOT the need to drive, it’s the need to charge it. While everyone else is distracted by the dream of a fully-autonomous car, Apple should quietly solve the more essential problem of producing and distributing energy, needed for those smart cars of the future. Electric cars must become more convenient that ownership of gas-powered cars BEFORE the self-driving feature enters the picture. AND the power grid is already stressed during peak usage and cannot sustain a significant percentage of cars becoming all-electric. Gas-powered cars (including hybrids) generate their own energy and carry around liquid fuel, distributed quickly through conveniently-located gas stations. Apple has the resources to do it. Supplying the solution for the future of ALL electric cars would be far more profitable and beneficial that just creating the Car.
Allllll very true….
Now do lithium for allllll the batteries…..
Asking for a friend…..
Apple should stay out of manufacturing and servicing cars. Cars can last 10-20 years. Is apple really going to invest in service centers across the world, with parts warehouses needed to maintain the fleet of cars they make for decades to come. Imagine the workforce (union labor) and risk needed to maintain millions of cars, recalls, repairs … if they slip up then customers will quickly blame Apple for poorly made or faulty cars, apple will be held to the highest standard. And when the cars get old and break down then they will have their apple logo brand clunkin around town for everyone to see in a delapadated condition. Not to mention the risk associated with dangers of transporting passengers, imagine the press the first time an apple car is involved in tragic accident. And for what, to enter an overly competitive market that has poor profit margins. Manufacturing a car is a full time challenge that is mainly driven by insanely passionate people who love and breath designing and making cars. Manufacturing cars isn’t great way to make money. Apple should stick with car play, maps ect … stay focused on the software and stay out of building cars.
The real reason apple is wanting to build a car is fear of missing out. Steve Jobs talked about the power of saying no. Just because you can dose not mean you should.
All very reasonable. Therefore Apple must be planning vehicle rentals, which they will repair in-house. Literally everything they are doing and have been doing over the past 7 years are all pointing toward Glasses and Car. Indeed, they began by asking, “What’s the dream VR/AR experience? What technologies will make that happen? How can we develop those step by step over the next 10 years and use those advancements to improve existing products along the way?” So also for the Car. Don’t worry, folks. I can safely say they’ve thought this through more than you.
I see no need for this. Legacy players (Ford, Toyota, Honda, GM, Nissan, etc) and Tesla are fully capable of satisfying customer needs in this space. No need for Apple to get into mfg of cars. Yes, they can continue to make advancements in car technology (Carplay, self driving or other things like that).