Rumours have been swirling for years that Cupertino computing giant Apple is working on a self-driving car, and analysts now predict that the company will either be in or out of the self-driving car market within the next two years.
In report obtained by AppleInsider, Robert Cirha — part of investment firm Guggenheim’s securities technology, media and telecommunications research team — said that Apple is a company with very strong virtually integrated control. As a result, it’s unlikely that Apple would sell modular AI to third-parties, meaning that the company will likely either commit and build a car, or scrap the entire project.
If Apple does make a car, it will put the company in competition with the likes of Tesla and other car manufactures, leapfrogging Google’s self-driving car technology that works by attaching itself to existing vehicles rather than attaching to a vehicle specifically manufactured by Google.
Building a full car would follow Apple’s design philosophy, allowing the company to control both the vehicle’s hardware and software. This strategy would also likely result in Apple running into obstacles in terms of finding manufacturing partners.
This analysis makes sense for a few reasons, because many car manufacturers already invest money to establish their own self-driving tech. Toyota recently announced plans to spend $2.8 billion USD to develop its own self-driving software.
It seems like car manufacturers are not in the market to adopt self-driving technology from other companies, but are aiming to develop the underlying technology that powers autonomous vehicles.
The AppleInsider report is at odds with a recent report from Bloomberg, which says that Apple has scaled back its plans to supply third-party vehicle manufacturers with Cupertino’s own self-driving technology.
Both of these reports state that Apple is working on something in the car space, though the tech giant still hasn’t confirmed that it’s working on an automotive project.
Source: The Verge, Appleinsider, Reuters
Photo credit: Twitter user @idiggapple
MobileSyrup may earn a commission from purchases made via our links, which helps fund the journalism we provide free on our website. These links do not influence our editorial content. Support us here.
