As someone who’s been covering the ins and outs of Project Titan for the past decade, I can’t say I’m surprised by this week’s news that the infamous Apple Car has been cancelled.
My hope, however, is that the death of Apple Car means there are good things to come for CarPlay users.
Apple Car and CarPlay
As it stands right now, we’re waiting on the first cars featuring next-generation CarPlay to debut from Aston Martin and Porsche. Next-gen CarPlay is a dramatic update and one that we’ve been eagerly waiting on since WWDC 2022.
But there’s been some bad news around CarPlay recently, too. GM no longer offers CarPlay in any of its EVs – an idiotic decision that is off to a disastrous start. Tesla and Rivian have also made it clear that they have no intention of supporting CarPlay. With Apple Car in the rear view mirror, it’s time for CarPlay to take the wheel and for Apple to regain some of the ground it’s lost.
Apple spent 10 years – at least – working on Apple Car. I’m sure they had some very good ideas about how in-car infotainment systems should work. My assumption is that some of those ideas are manifesting in the form of next-generation CarPlay. But anyone who follows Apple knows there are other ideas it came up with and was saving for its eventual car. Now that Apple Car is dead, those ideas can come to life through CarPlay, Apple Maps, and Vision Pro.
I also don’t think the death of Apple Car means Apple is going to give up on its goal of dominating the in-car experience. If anything, Apple knows it now has to work harder to take back some of the in-car infotainment market that it has lost to companies like Tesla, Rivian, and Google.
The lingering question, of course, is how willing automakers are to cede control of the in-car infotainment system to Apple. My belief is that companies are far more likely to work with Apple now that they know Apple isn’t going to become a direct competitor in a few years.
It’s not hard to imagine CarPlay – or some other in-car features – becoming a Services play for Apple in the future. The margins on Services are infinitely better than the margins on cars, too. Tim Cook’s mouth is watering as he reads this.
Wrap up
Making a car is hard, making an EV is even harder, and making an EV that is capable of full self-driving is practically impossible. It says a lot that Apple – one of the world’s best logistics companies – didn’t see a path toward making a successful car.
I’m sure Apple would prefer to make a car and not have to work with other carmakers at all, but it seems to have come to the realization that making a car is not worth it. And that’s a good thing. Apple can play a much bigger role in the auto industry by doubling down on CarPlay and working closely with other automakers.
And maybe, just maybe, Apple realized that the future should be fewer cars on the road, not more. Jeremy Burge has a great write up on that over at Mobile Tech Journal.
I can’t help but imagine what it would’ve been like to watch Tesla and Apple go head-to-head, but I’m ultimately glad that the Apple Car saga is behind us. I just hope we see Apple take some of its ideas and bring them to CarPlay, Apple Maps, and perhaps one day, augmented reality glasses of some sort.
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