The demise of Apple, Inc.’s AAPL self-driving car has spawned tales about what went wrong, and on Sunday, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman shed some insights into how an Apple car would have looked like.
Massive Disappointment: When Apple began planning to diversify its revenue stream beyond the iPhone in 2014, it zeroed in on an electric vehicle, said Gurman in the latest installment of his weekly “Power On” newsletter. For Cupertino, it was a perfect opportunity to get into a “category ripe for disruption that could be transformed with a smartly packaged combination of hardware, software and services,” he said.
“The company could design the coolest-looking car on the road, develop its own underlying operating system, and sell services on top of it — like self-driving features, Apple Music and TV+ video streaming.”
Indecision and disagreement, technological challenges and the “cold hard realities” of the auto sector all played a role in the failure of the project, which, according to Gurman, is a “massive disappointment that will alter the course of the company's history, perhaps for decades to come.”
The primary disagreement revolved around which strategy to pursue, encompassing aspects like the specific gadgets within the car interior and the degree of autonomy, he explained.The columnist said no other category could have increased Apple’s revenue the way a car could.
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How Apple Car Evolved: Gurman also provided insights into the discontinued Apple car based on information he had gathered.
“It would have wowed consumers and stood out in an increasingly crowded EV market,” he said.
The Apple car’s circa-2020 design resembled EV startup Canoo’s Lifestyle Vehicle, Gurman said, adding that it looked like a futuristic van with rounded edges, and dark black windows with an adjustable tint.
“There was all-glass sunroof, a pure white exterior and whitewall tires with a black center. The front and back were identical, so it would always look like you were driving forward. It looked like no other mass-produced vehicle — and was optimized for full, Level 5 self-driving,” he said.
The interior, the columnist said, evolved several times, but the general idea was a “minimalist interface — combined with seats you'd normally see on a private jet or a limousine.”
“Inside, it felt like you were essentially in a ‘contoured bubble,'” he said.
The car could comfortably accommodate four people, with seats being able to shift between normal chairs, recliners and foot rests, he added.
Gurman noted that most of the car designs Apple drew up included a giant TV in the center to show videos and handle FaceTime, while some variants added iPad-sized displays suspended from the roof to access frequent controls.
Among the design variations were:
- A design by Jony Ive that looked like a 1950s Volkswagen microbus, dubbed “Bread Loaf” internally.
- A second version that nearly resembled the 2017 Volkswagen ID Buzz prototype. (This design, the columnist said, was shown inside Apple well before the German automaker announced its concept and that may not have been coincidental, he said. He noted that some Apple car group employees, who left the company, joined Volkswagen in the mid-2010s.)
- A third variation maintained the same overall design, but had a far more dramatic front — like a wedge pointed downward.
- A fourth version that looked more like the Canoo. (This was a fresh excitement to the project in 2020, with Tim Cook and Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams so impressed with the design that they gave a speech at Apple's test track in Arizona and committed to push ahead with development, Gurman said.)
- A variation of the original “Bread Loaf” idea but with gull-wing doors replacing the sliding van door, as seen on the Tesla Model X.
When Apple finally decided to switch from Level 5 autonomy to around Level 2, it was forced to add back a steering wheel and pedals, as well as front and back windows, Gurman said. The final version of the car had two seats facing forward that could swivel, he added.
“It's a shame these designs will be lost to time. I think they would have excited buyers, even if they weren't always practical,” Gurman said.
Apple ended Friday’s session up 1.02% at $170.73, according to Benzinga Pro data.
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