Mark Harris reporting for The Guardian
In May, engineers from Apple’s secretive Special Project group met with officials from GoMentum Station, a 2,100-acre former naval base near San Francisco that is being turned into a high-security testing ground for autonomous vehicles.
In correspondence obtained by the Guardian under a public records act request, Apple engineer Frank Fearon wrote: “We would … like to get an understanding of timing and availability for the space, and how we would need to coordinate around other parties who would be using [it].”
This theory has been alive for a while now, so I guess there might be quite some truth underneath it. Once again Apple is following a trend started by many other companies in the last few years, rather than breaking a completely new ground.
The big difference here seems to be once again the level of secrecy that the Cupertino company wants to keep. While other companies such as Google (or I guess Alphabet now), BMW, Audi and Mercedes have all shown us their concept vehicles, already putting them on the streets with great pride, Apple is still preferring the silent treatment.
According to the tone of the article, Project Titan seems to be almost imminent, so why such secrecy? Building such an intelligent vehicle1 at this point in time should be in my opinion a group effort. The different manufacturers should all put their brain power together to create the ultimate vehicle.
If you really think about it for a second, the future of the car industry is not a bright one. Unless they really manage to crack the problem of sustainability2, there isn’t really going to be a future for that industry. What’s the solution you ask? I’m not really equipped to answer, but let’s try to use a massive hypothetical here for a second.
What if all the car manufactures came together to build and sell the car 2.0 of the future?
The outdoor design and aesthetic from let’s say, Ferrari. For the battery technology to power the vehicle we should ask Tesla. As of today they are by far the company that has done the most work toward a real all-electric consumer-focused car. Of course, since the battery is also by far the biggest bottleneck, this is an area where joint efforts would pay-off the most, so everyone should chip in.
Apple of course should be chosen for the interiors. Not really the design (I would leave that to the Germans of Audi/BMW/Mercedes), but the equipment. They know ecosystems, they would be in an ideal positions to really connect the car. I know that so far CarPlay hasn’t been off to a great start, but in my vision it wouldn’t be just a screen, it would be an entire intelligence in charge of bridging the gap between the “technical intelligence” and the “infotainment intelligence”.
I know all of this is a very long shot, and surely Apple is not the company to play ball with others in such a way, but dreaming doesn’t really cost anything.