With the change on how we see cars and driving, many auto manufacturers are beginning to see that it is no longer a mechanic industry, but a tech one, and are partnering with plenty of companies that specialize in technology in order to make the necessary improvements to their vehicles and reach the autonomous driving goals quicker and more efficiently. One of the companies that was maybe looking into breaking into the automotive industry is Apple. They are a tech powerhouse and have the resources to create and test new tech while also drawing data from their decades of experience in other products.
But it seems like despite their unquestionable expertise that they could bring to the table Apple is backing out before even starting, and Elon Musk may have had something to do with this development.
Apple’s involvement with car manufacturing
Every year cars get more and more tech advanced and replace mechanical connectors with cables and onboard computers. More and more cameras, maps that read not only the road but also the behavior of other cars around you, systems that connect to traffic lights to improve the flow of traffic… All those were things that just ten years ago would have seemed impossible but that today are just out of reach, and they all have one thing in common, they run with tech.
One of the pioneers in the self-driving vehicle is Tesla, and although they have fallen behind in recent years, they are somehow still considered industry standard for battery duration and some of the more basic tasks that need to be tried and tested. They are known for their self-driving technologies Autopilot and Full Self-Driving (Supervised), and although neither of them can work without a person in the driver’s seat, and even then they should really be paying attention, it is a good first step for those who do not trust self-driving tech.
Having said that, proceed with caution if you have one of these systems, as Tesla has come under recent investigations by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) regarding traffic accidents involving the technology.
But how does Apple enter this conversation? Well, in 2017 Apple indicated that they are going to try their hand at developing its own autonomous driving technology. The project was put on pause for plenty of reasons and in 2024 the company decided to dismantle the project forever. They got fairly far, with sources stating that they got as far as putting an electrical test vehicle on the road.
Considering they made an investment exceeding $10 billion on the project, Apple’s decision to cancel its self-driving car initiative came as a shock. Industry analysts suggest the tech giant may have overestimated its ability to compete with established players like Tesla and other automotive leaders and to date, Tesla remains the only U.S. automaker actively deploying vehicles with self-driving capabilities, though even these systems require human oversight and do not meet the criteria for full autonomy and Chinese companies are surpassing them with ease.
Tech expert Mark Gurman told Bloomberg “Apple’s belief that it could create a better car than Tesla and the rest of the automotive industry ultimately led to the downfall of the project. The auto market is harder to crack than smartphones, computers and MP3 players. It has evolved over a century and is filled with far more competitors and more complex supply chains — and requires a ton of capital,” he continued.
But still, their project could be reused in a different capacity, perhaps in partnership with a company that competes with Tesla, as it really does seem like they made some headway.