Author? |? James
Editor? |? Han Xiao
Car matter 65438+February 10 news, this week, the news about Apple making cars began to ferment again.
On Tuesday, the head of Apple's autopilot department was replaced, and John, senior vice president of machine learning and AI strategy? Giannandrea replaces Bob who has worked at Apple for more than 20 years? Mansfield and Bob retired at Apple for the second time.
On Wednesday, the media DigiTimes reported that Apple is setting up an automobile assembly plant in the United States and has started preliminary cooperation negotiations with global automotive electronics suppliers. It is estimated that from 2024 to 2025, "Apple? The car will be officially unveiled. At the same time, Apple is currently working with TSMC to jointly develop autonomous driving chips.
DigiTimes predicts that Apple will debut in 2024 ~ 2025.
Since 20 14, Apple has reported that it is developing smart cars. The project team is called "Titan", and Apple also digs people from traditional car companies such as Tesla, Chrysler and Volkswagen.
However, in 20 17, Cook said in an interview that he was working on developing an automatic driving system, and the outside world thought that the Titan project seemed to be put on hold. But interestingly, in recent years, Apple has been applying for various automobile patents, involving autonomous driving, intelligent cockpit, intelligent body and other fields, and many practices are very groundbreaking. The brain hole is bigger than Tesla, and it also makes the outside world feel that Apple does not seem to have given up the dream of building a car.
Can refer to the car. It has been reported before that "the heart of Apple's car will not die! 1 year adds 30 patents, all of which are black technologies, and decrypts Apple cars with 70 patents! The brain hole is too big for Tesla to catch up. ""Apple plays smart cars, and the road is wilder than Tesla. "
Driven by Tesla, a wave of smart electric vehicles has been set off around the world. New car companies are constantly emerging, and traditional car companies are also actively transforming. The market values of companies such as Tesla, Weilai, Tucki and Ideality are also constantly hitting new heights.
Under the background of excellent situation and active encouragement from governments around the world, it is hard to imagine that players with money, technology, technology accumulation and brand like Apple will ignore this market.
If the Taiwan Province media's statement is true, Apple has now established a supply chain and plans to build a factory for production, then it is not impossible for it to come up with a shocking product.
By then, Apple is likely to lead and reshape the industry again, just like in the fields of computers, smart phones, smart watches and Bluetooth headsets.
1. Does Apple plan to build a car factory in the United States? The new car will be unveiled as early as 2024.
According to the media DigiTimes, recent news from automotive electronics and other related supply chains shows that Apple will set up a factory to manufacture cars in the United States, and the production plan, preliminary technology and product parameters have been basically determined. At present, preliminary cooperation negotiations have been started with automotive electronics suppliers.
Apple is currently understanding the technical specifications, costs, product prospects and other indicators of automotive products, which is similar to the RFQ process in the industry. At the same time, many suppliers have begun to send samples to Apple. After determining the supplier, Apple's car-making plan can be officially launched.
It is estimated that from 2024 to 2025, "Apple? The car will be officially unveiled at the Apple conference.
This year, Apple officially named its self-developed chip product Apple? Silicon, in addition to the M 1 chip for Mac computers unveiled this year, Apple is also developing various types of chips, including autonomous driving chips.
The media DigiTimes reported that Apple is currently cooperating with TSMC to develop autonomous driving chips. The TSMC factory has previously received orders for Tesla autopilot chips and has been "Apple?" The car "unfolded. In a factory of TSMC, TSMC cooperates with stmicroelectronics, an automobile chip supplier.
In addition, Hon Hai Group, which has cooperated with Apple for many years, also announced its entry into the field of electric vehicles. In the "Hon Hai Technology Day" in May 438+10 this year, Foxconn officially released the electric vehicle chassis and software platform "MIH? EV Open Platform also announced that it will launch solid-state batteries in 2024.
Since the beginning of this year, Hon Hai Group has reached an agreement with Taiwan Province automobile manufacturers Yulong Group and Fiat Chrysler (FCA) to set up a joint venture company to cooperate in the field of electric vehicles and car networking. Some analysts pointed out that Hon Hai Group may also want to win the "big customer" of Apple when it enters the automobile industry.
Some auto parts industry practitioners said that Apple "Apple? The car mode will be similar to Tesla. In other words, if Apple builds a car, the source of parts will have a high degree of coincidence with Tesla. At the same time, the supply of power batteries plays a decisive role in many parts of the vehicle.
Media DigiTimes analysis, Apple, which has always had strong control over the supply chain, will speed up mergers and acquisitions in the next few years to ensure that the battery technology is leading and the supply will not be affected.
Second, thousands of people have developed more than 100 patents? Apple's mysterious road to building a car will continue.
The earliest news about Apple making cars can be traced back to 20 14. In March of that year, after Apple released Carplay in-vehicle software at the Geneva Motor Show, it began to conduct substantial research on automobiles.
20 15, some media reported that thousands of people participated in the research and development of Apple's automobile project. At the same time, Apple has been encouraging Tesla employees to join Apple.
This year, Apple recruited outstanding talents from major car companies around the world, including Tesla, Chrysler and Volkswagen Group. Including Chris, former vice president of Tesla? Barrett. At present, he still holds an important position in Apple's Titan project.
In addition, in 20 15, Apple hired talents related to autonomous driving from companies such as NVIDIA and Waymo to help Apple develop an autonomous driving system. Apple also "dug" at least three battery experts from Samsung, focusing on power battery technology.
In an interview that year, elon musk, CEO of Tesla, joked that Apple was Tesla's "grave" because all the people recruited by Apple were "fired" by Tesla.
In 20 16, Apple's Titan project experienced a major transformation.
According to the foreign media "Wall Street Journal", in July of that year, Apple rehired Bob, a retired former senior vice president of Apple hardware. Mansfield, he will take over the Titan car project.
Bob. Mansfield led the team to design the MacBook when he was the senior vice president of Apple hardware. Air and MacBook? Pro and other products. Re-hire Bob? After Mansfield, Apple also turned from the development of automobile hardware to the development of autonomous driving system.
Bob, former senior vice president of hardware at Apple? Mansfield, now retiring for the second time.
In 20 17, Apple was allowed to test self-driving cars on public roads in California.
According to foreign media Bloomberg, a Lexus RX450h that drove out of Apple's headquarters building at that time was equipped with the longest detection range of 64-line lidar in Verdun, in addition to at least two radars and two cameras.
Lexus RX450h used by apple for autopilot test
Apple CEO Cook said in an interview with Bloomberg TV: "Apple is focusing on autonomous driving system, but it may not necessarily develop real hardware products."
At that time, it was speculated that Apple might want to launch a self-developed autonomous driving system and provide a carpooling service similar to Uber.
In 20 18, Apple's test of autonomous driving has been continuously upgraded and the scale is also expanding.
Although Apple has not publicly admitted that it is testing the autopilot system, Apple ranks third in the number of autopilot licenses in California. In that year, a total of 70 vehicles were allowed to go on the road for autonomous driving test, second only to 175 vehicles of Cruise Company of General Motors and 88 autonomous driving test vehicles of Waymo Company of Alphabet.
In 20 19, the information about Apple's self-driving vehicles was gradually decreasing, and even revealed that Apple had laid off 200 people in the autonomous driving department. The only heavy news is that Apple acquired Drive.ai Autopilot Company, and Apple seems to be more low-key in the field of autonomous driving or car building.
This week, according to foreign media Bloomberg, the head of Apple's autopilot department was once again replaced by John, senior vice president of machine learning and AI strategy. Giannandrea is the director, former director Bob? Mansfield officially retired.
Doug, Executive Director of Apple Titan Project? Report directly to John? John, reporting from Giannandrea? Giannandrea reported directly to Apple CEO Cook that Apple's car-making project seems to be turning around.
John, senior vice president of Apple? Jannandre
According to John? Apple official website released? Giannandrea's resume, he joined Apple in 20 18 and served as the head of Google's machine learning and search team for 8 years. At present, John? Giannandrea is responsible for Apple's AI technology strategy, machine learning and development of Core? ML and Siri technology.
At the same time, from the perspective of patent technology, Apple began to apply for automobile-related patents in 20 17, and has officially obtained more than 100 automobile-related patents.
This shows that Apple has never given up the plan to build a car.
This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.