Apple begins securing Apple Car components, report claims
Interestingly Apple is alleged to have imported one of these vehicles back in 2014.
Apple may be going it more or less alone when it comes to the design and development of the now mythical Apple Car, and is now seeking suppliers for its vehicle, a report claims.
Where components gather, manufacture begins
If the report (translated here) is correct, the deal is that Apple is seeking component suppliers for the final vehicle.
It also says Apple has been engaged in its own car hardware R&D since 2014 but had tried to reach partnerships with other car manufacturers over that time. The hardware division, apparently, stopped operating around 2016 though self-driving research continued.
Thing is, “There was also reluctance from some large automakers about becoming a manufacturing subcontractor for Apple. Apple is believed to have decided that it could not delay the launch of its car any further.”
Apple then decided to recommence its vehicle research unit, which basically means it will build its own car from scratch, relying on components from third parties for some of its work.
Reporting on the original report, MacRumors claims Apple has sent information, proposal and quotation requests to various global car manufacturers. I speculate this may include Nissan, Toyota, BMW and Hyundai, all of which the report says it has been speaking with.
What this means is that Apple may now be selecting final suppliers before it begins production of its vehicle.
What’s going on?
While Doug Field recently left the company, prompting the usual deluge of ‘Apple will fail’ reports, the company still has hundreds of seasoned engineers to work with on the project.
All the same, the report seems slightly disappointing when it predicts the vehicle won’t hit the road until 2025 or later. Apple hired Ulrich Kranz, a former senior vice president of BMW i3 for electric vehicles in June, for example
There are a couple of bells that don’t ring true.
The request for quotation item is particularly unusual, as it suggests Apple is a little further along than was thought.
Why would it request quotes for components that could themselves be outdated by the end of next year? While no one anticipates the vehicle will hit the road quite yet, I’m finding it hard to deny my own gut feeling that development may well be further along than we believed.
Particularly given the frequency and quantity of Apple Car related reports that are emerging at this time.
It may also be of interest to note recent news Apple’s manufacturing partner Foxconn its to begin making cars in the U.S, while Murata Manufacturing has acquired an interestingly innovate battery development firm. The analysts at Bernstein predict Apple may sell 1.5 million of its vehicles by 2030,
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