Blog Report: Apple Talking to Korean Suppliers for EV Project

Apple’s efforts in the automotive industry continue to emerge.

A new report from the Korea Times says Apple has held discussions with multiple Korean EV component manufacturers.

Apple has been working on a car project since as early as 2014. Dubbed “Project Titan,” the company explored building its own car from scratch. However, the company reportedly abandoned those efforts to focus on automotive software. In 2018, Apple tapped former Tesla employee Doug Field to manage the project.

In December, Reuters reported that Apple is still planning a battery-powered car with self-driving capabilities. In January, it was reported that Apple and Hyundai Motor Co. were considering a partnership to build a car.

“Apple officials have been in Korea for business talks with its Korean partners in the semiconductor and display sectors,” a senior industry executive directly involved with the issue told The Korea Times. “As seen in Apple’s smartphone business, the company is seeking business partners in Korea for its EV business.”

“Without partnerships with Korean vendors, Apple won’t be able to complete its EV business plan,” the source continued. “As far as I know, Apple has talked with LG, SK and Hanwha, but the talks are still in the early stages.”

It’s still not clear exactly what Apple is working on, but reports suggest the company is still very much looking to build a car or products for transportation.

 

[Zacster]

"an ipod, a phone, an internet communicator, and a car... Today, Apple is going to reinvent the car... "

I think I've seen this movie before.

 

[plee1024]

3rd party addon will void your warrantee

 

[GlockWorkOrnge]

Apple is going to be pretty far behind.

 

[AquaY]

Under Steve Jobs Apple was a leading innovator.
Under Tim Cook they are a trailing company with little vision and innovation.

It shows to me how one man's vision and leadership can sharpen or dull the cutting edge.

One difference between Elon Musk and both Jobs and Cook is he seems willing to share the lime light more with his top people.
That's a good thing

 

[NoGasNoBrakes]

Apple's definitely good at being patient watching other phone companies innovate while waiting in the sidelines, building off of their unpolished ideas and turning those into full-fledged technologies, such as Face ID. I do agree that Steve Jobs did much more for the company than Tim Cook has, but there's a lot of potential they have to do well in the EV industry.

However, in order for them to succeed, there's much they have to do. It's clear that despite their market cap being over 2.4 billion dollars, they aren't doing much in the side of cutting edge technology, so even if they hired top engineers from every field required to design and produce an EV, the idea could still flop hard.

Apple has many assets like iPhone technology and their ability to market even products that seemed ridiculous at first, to massive success, like the AirPods. I don't believe marketing an EV will be tough for them.

Like any EV company, innovation is extremely difficult, as seen by Tesla, and perhaps Apple will improve on Tesla's faults to create even better vehicles than Tesla, but I believe I'd need to see that in action. Apple needs to build many plants and facilities and will need to be just as productive as other large industry names to be successful; otherwise, they could end up like another Faraday Future, an EV company with top engineers and large amounts of funding that still flopped. Plus, it's safe to say that EV technology is a bit out of the box for Apple; it's not like making an iPad or AirPods in many ways. It'll take a lot of initiative and drive from Apple, and until proven otherwise, I'll be doubting that they'll end up making an EV, and a self-driving one at that.

 

[abasile]

perhaps Apple will improve on Tesla's faults to create even better vehicles than Tesla

Tesla vehicles are very clean, elegant, and user friendly, and production quality seems to have improved, so I don't exactly see a big opening for Apple to beat Tesla on the vehicles themselves. Arguably, Tesla's biggest weakness has been in the area of customer communication, and Apple could certainly do better there. However, there are signs that Tesla is trying to improve in this area.

despite their market cap being over 2.4 billion dollars

trillion!

 

[NoGasNoBrakes]

Tesla vehicles are very clean, elegant, and user friendly, and production quality seems to have improved, so I don't exactly see a big opening for Apple to beat Tesla on the vehicles themselves.

I agree, Tesla is definitely far ahead of Apple in terms of production quality. I suppose I don't really have exact examples, but Tesla has had a track record of allowing big defects and manufacturing issues to go into their early released models of cars, though this is definitely a problem they have been able to address over time. I've had the chance to talk to a few early owners of the Model S and Model 3, and it is apparent to me that over the 4 years between the S and 3 releases alone, Tesla has made huge improvements regarding fixing factory-originated defects, buggy software, hardware designs, and overall capabilities of their vehicles. I have heard about very few issues most people have had with the 3, so I think at this point "big problems" and "defects" have to do with Tesla's public perception rather than actual issues.

 

[MontyFloyd]

I agree, Tesla is definitely far ahead of Apple in terms of production quality. I suppose I don't really have exact examples, but Tesla has had a track record of allowing big defects and manufacturing issues to go into their early released models of cars, though this is definitely a problem they have been able to address over time. I've had the chance to talk to a few early owners of the Model S and Model 3, and it is apparent to me that over the 4 years between the S and 3 releases alone, Tesla has made huge improvements regarding fixing factory-originated defects, buggy software, hardware designs, and overall capabilities of their vehicles. I have heard about very few issues most people have had with the 3, so I think at this point "big problems" and "defects" have to do with Tesla's public perception rather than actual issues.

Over all agree. All new products have some, almost always, issues soon fixed.

Watching Sandy's teardowns of new EV's and others road tests also show the car companies are having the same new product issues.
Even with sound off, I can understand how much superior Tesla cars are. Heck, many of those innovations can apply to gas cars as well!

 

[abasile]

I have heard about very few issues most people have had with the 3, so I think at this point "big problems" and "defects" have to do with Tesla's public perception rather than actual issues.

At least that's what some media outlets want the public perception to be. Russ Mitchell of the LA Times is one example of a "journalist" with a constant, anti-Tesla slant. Not paying off the media by buying lots of ads does come at a price! I expect Apple would do plenty of advertising if they were to sell a car.

 

[NoGasNoBrakes]

I expect Apple would do plenty of advertising if they were to sell a car.

With bass-boosted music in every commercial, of course.