The Ledger
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Gurman: Kevin Lynch recommended canceling Apple Car to reallocate engineers to AI
“And he made the decision ultimately to recommend that Apple winds down this car program. He thought it couldn't be done. He didn't know, ah, when they'd be able to pull off autonomy, and so him alongside Williams, you know, ultimately wound down the Titan proj…”
Gurman: Apple Car would exist today if it targeted Level 2
“I think they could have gotten it right if they didn't get so far down the road on level five autonomy, building its operations around level five, building its autonomous system around level five, spending 10 years building different car designs and infrastruc…”
Gurman: Apple views Vision Pro as an eventual iPhone and Mac replacement
“You know, I think Apple sees the Vision Pro as potentially a long-term replacement for multiple different product categories. I think they see it as something, ah, that has potential to replace the iPad as a consumption device, potential to replace the, ah, th…”
Gurman: Apple delayed car to 2028 and downgraded to Level 2-plus
“And so the decision was made to delay their planned release date a couple years to the twenty-twenty-eight, twenty-twenty-nine time frame, so about five, six years from now, and re-architect the car around a level two, two-plus design.”
Gurman: Apple canceled car project to reallocate resources to generative AI
“And this was clear admission of failure and admission of a need to disperse some of the resources from that program to other projects at the company, such as the work going on in generative artificial intelligence.”
Gurman: Apple considered acquiring Tesla and met with Musk before passing
“Initially, the first part of the car project was examining what it would take to acquire Tesla, integrate Tesla, and take Tesla to a new level under Apple ownership. And so they spent a lot of time exploring the possibility of acquiring Tesla. Apple's head of …”
Gurman: Elon Musk would have quickly left if Apple acquired Tesla
“I quite frankly don't think Elon Musk would have lasted long at Apple, right, with Tesla. I think Elon Musk would have wanted control. I think Elon Musk would have wanted to run, you know, probably the whole company, obviously a very ambitious guy, and certain…”
Gurman: Apple explored non-opening car windows with simulated exterior audio
“They had ideas about not having windows that can open.
And so instead of that, they put microphones outside the car with a, you know, a high tech spatial audio system inside the car that could present
The user with the feeling that they have open windows.”
Gurman: Apple tested bidirectional car design with no front or rear windows
“There were other strange ideas, such as not having windows on the front or the back of the car, and the idea being that the front and back look identical, so the car could drive in either direction, and it's always driving forward.”
Gurman: Apple considered game controllers and remote operators for driving fallbacks
“There was talk of having a game controller-like interface in the car to be able to drive the car, because the big idea was having no pedal or steering wheels, of course.
The other idea was being able to call into a 24 seven Apple Command Center and have them d…”
Gurman: Apple was committed to eliminating pedals and steering wheels until 2022
“So certainly they were thinking and putting an incredible amount of time into fallback options for the autonomy because they were
Till about two years ago, very much all in on the lack of pedals or steering wheels.”
Gurman: Doug Field faced indecision from Tim Cook on Apple Car
“He implemented a lot of the fail safes for the backup to the autonomy, but he ran into issue after issue related to disagreement, Indecision from top Apple executives, including Tim Cook and really a desire to bring something to market while having this inhere…”
Gurman: Weak margins were the main factor in Apple canceling its car
“I think ultimately, to be honest with you, the biggest factor was probably, ah, the lack of profitability and the lack of strong margins that they saw coming from the car project.”
Gurman: Apple would have absorbed Tesla rather than run it as subsidiary
“Buying Tesla would have been the basis of their own car project. I don't think it would have operated necessarily as its own subsidiary. I think it would have been the beginnings of, you know, an Apple vehicle.”
Gurman: Apple car core design resembled the Volkswagen ID Buzz
“And I think that the very core of the car looked something like the Volkswagen ID Buzz,
Which is their, you know, new generation concept reimagining of the 19 fifties, 19 sixties micro bus, right?”
Gurman: Apple Vision Pro was an 8-to-10-year development effort
“The Vision Pro went on sale in February, 2024, so a little bit earlier this year. But development of that project kicked off around the same time as the Apple Car project, and you can argue the Vision Pro was an eight, nine, year, 10 program as well.”
Gurman: Apple held partnership talks with Mercedes, BMW, McLaren, and Canoo
“Flew throughout the world to meet with different car manufacturers. They held discussions with Mercedes, Volkswagen, BMW, McLaren, self-driving company called Canoe. If you can name the company, they thought about working with them in some fashion.”
Gurman: Apple Car project faced early rift over autonomy levels
“The big disagreement that, that Apple was facing from the get-go of the project was the level of autonomy to work through, right? Would it be something close to no autonomy? Would it be something like level two, like you see in a Tesla? Would it be level five …”
Gurman: Apple Car's 2016 pivot caused hundreds of hardware layoffs
“Well, certainly the first embarrassment started to come out around 2016, 2017, when they had to do the first major pivot of the project, which was refocusing around that autonomous driving system, paring back some engineering and operations related to the deve…”
Gurman: Apple Began Hiring Auto and Autonomous AI Talent Around 2015–2016
“The first time that I caught wind that Apple was developing an electric vehicle was probably about eight or nine years ago when I had found out they have started to hire people from the automotive industry and from the AI industry related to autonomous driving…”