The Apple Car: Innovation Meets Mobility

Exciting Automotive Technologies are emerging.

- Benjamin Kerry & Gavin

As far as can be gleaned about a project that has never been officially confirmed, there appears to have been a major shift in Apple’s automotive ambitions this year. While, apparently, the company was once working on its own electric car and even mulling the acquisition of an established carmaker, it has since turned its focus more towards driving software. Nonetheless, there remain ways in which Apple’s car project could evolve to help turn the automotive industry on its head.

A CHANGE OF DIRECTION FOR APPLE’S CAR PROJECT

In October, Bloomberg reported that Apple’s car team had come under new leadership – that of veteran Apple executive Bob Mansfield, who has implemented a more flexible strategy for the team going forward. In short, work on an electric car has been put on hold in favor of making a software platform for autonomous vehicles. This is intended to allow Apple the later choice of either partnering with existing automakers or returning to in-house car development.

However, there’s no reason to assume that Apple doesn’t remain confident about the influence it could come to exert in the automotive space. In October 2015, Apple CEO Tim Cook predicted “massive change … not just evolutionary change” for this industry in the approaching years. He explained that, in his view, “software becomes an increasingly important part of the car of the future”, and that “autonomous driving becomes much more important.”