Technology analyst Shana Glenzer and MarketWatch technology editor Jeremy Owens provide insight on Elon Musk, saying that Apple would not meet with him in the past and news that Apple is aiming to produce cars until 2024.
The alleged Apple car is reportedly under construction, but it probably won’t be the autonomous vehicle fans of the tech giant are waiting for, according to Wall Street analysts.
Although Apple’s so-called Titan Project, its 2014 autonomous vehicle initiative, set the goal of producing a standalone vehicle by 2024 with “innovative” battery technology, according to Reuters, analysts do not believe this means CEO Tim Cook will move to vehicle production from scratch.
The chances of Apple launching its own vehicle by 2024 are only 35% to 40%, “given the Herculean self-production capabilities, battery technology ramp, implications of the financial model and regulatory obstacles involved in such a game-changing initiative” , wrote Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities. He noted that an autonomous vehicle would take even longer to make due to safety and regulatory issues.
However, there are methods without an automatic assembly line that the iPhone manufacturer could use to enter the market.
Ives sees Apple forming a strategic partnership with an established company like Volkswagen or Tesla, whose CEO, Elon Musk, approached the tech giant about buying the electric car maker when it was in financial trouble in 2017.
Such an approach is also being considered by Chinese technology giant Baidu, according to a recent Reuters report.
Goldman Sachs analyst Rod Hall believes that Apple can follow the service provider’s path – almost the same strategy the company used with television – despite its advantage in integration features and the ability to create software and hardware.
Technology companies want to be in the automotive business “due to the long time that future consumers are likely to spend in autonomous vehicles, using information services, while making their way from point A to point B,” wrote Hall.
But while the space for electric vehicles could grow to $ 1 trillion in the next decade, providing a huge opportunity, the auto industry’s profit margins are lower than that of technology, he noted. This may make the service model more attractive to Apple.
In addition, both Apple fans and investors should be warned that many strategic products / ideas that take place in the labs “ultimately never leave the confines of Apple Park,” said Ives.