Apple Isn't Building A Car Anymore

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Let's see if I got this right, a car program that has never been announced, never even proven to exist has now somehow been cancelled? Well isn't that convenient? I hate to say it, but we called this one from the very beginning.

Remember Apple's ambitious, long-rumored and totally not top-secret plan to build a self-driving car for the masses? According to Bloomberg, it's dead, with several hundred employees being reassigned to other parts of the company's business. The project, codenamed Titan, has been scaled back from a full-blown vehicle to simply a self-driving system that can be sold to car makers for use in their own vehicles. It gets worse, since Titan's leaders have been told that their team needs to produce something feasible before the end of 2017, or else.
 
damn. I won't lie, a Apple car, banking on the prestige of their brand, might have been a moneymaker.
 
SighTurtle said:
damn. I won't lie, a Apple car, banking on the prestige of their brand, might have been a moneymaker.
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I doubt they'd ever sell enough to make back the R&D costs for building a new car. It's not like a new phone or laptop design, they're starting from scratch, and they'd need to build entire factories from the ground up. New manufacturing facilities, testing, government certifications, new car dealership locations, long-term maintenance, etc. They'd have to sink an unbelievable amount of their cash into this project.
 
Bandalo said:
I doubt they'd ever sell enough to make back the R&D costs for building a new car. It's not like a new phone or laptop design, they're starting from scratch, and they'd need to build entire factories from the ground up. New manufacturing facilities, testing, government certifications, new car dealership locations, long-term maintenance, etc. They'd have to sink an unbelievable amount of their cash into this project.
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You make good points. Maybe a partnership, but the market is pretty crowded and Apple does not seem the type to do that.
 
After years of debate, I am not making a car either. Sorry guys. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
 
Bandalo said:
I doubt they'd ever sell enough to make back the R&D costs for building a new car. It's not like a new phone or laptop design, they're starting from scratch, and they'd need to build entire factories from the ground up.
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They would have just had it made in china like everything else. No need to build a factory.
 
Would have been nice to have an Apple car. That way the insufferable sycophants could be easily identifiable .
 
nutzo said:
They would have just had it made in china like everything else. No need to build a factory.
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You can do that with a phone, not a car. While they could contract out a lot of the manufacturing, you have to have physical dealerships for test drives and sales, and more importantly, service. Especially on a completely unique product like this.
 
The demand for fuel economy credits that adds a $50,000 windfall for every Telsa won't be what was promised by the time they get a car to market.

Also probably started to realize they bit off more than they could chew.
 
Assuming Apple was actually trying to build a car in the first place, I never thought they would actually take it to a final product. It just doesn't fit into their model.

A self driving system seems more realistic, but even then I'm doubtful. My guess is still just a very fancy infotainment system.
 
Given their mapping prowess, I wouldn't trust them to give me walking directions nevermind a self driving car.
 
Tesla was incredibly expensive to launch, and its closer to mass market models will cost even more to launch. The economics of it are pretty terrible, in terms of just making a profit and not even counting the break even point which is nowhere in sight for an established brand like Tesla.
 
pxc said:
The economics of it are pretty terrible, in terms of just making a profit and not even counting the break even point which is nowhere in sight for an established brand like Tesla.
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This is an important point. Elon Musk made Tesla because he personally wanted to bring electronic cars to the mass market.

Apple makes products purely on profit, and the automotive industry is not known for profit margins.
 
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