From Tim Higgins and Elizabeth Koh’s “Apple’s Electric-Vehicle Talks With Hyundai Break Down” ($) in Monday’s Wall Street Journal:
Apple Inc.’s talks with Hyundai Motor Group have broken down without an agreement for the South Korean auto giant to assemble vehicles for the iPhone company, Hyundai affiliates said Monday.
In regulatory filings, Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Corp. said they are “not in talks with Apple over developing an autonomous vehicle.” The two auto makers have fielded multiple requests from other firms to jointly develop autonomous electric vehicles, though no initial steps have been determined, according to the regulatory filings.
The companies had held talks with the Cupertino, Calif., technology giant about a deal for Hyundai subsidiary Kia to build vehicles for Apple in Georgia, The Wall Street Journal reported last week. The prospect of an auto partnership had sent the Korean companies’ stocks soaring this year, igniting investor enthusiasm after both Kia and Hyundai had suffered years of slumping car sales.
Shares sank 6% for Hyundai Motor following Monday’s regulatory-filing disclosures, while Kia plunged by more than 13%.
My take: The fires set by Apple car stories got out of control. The key word may be “autonomous.”
As an aside, I will not buy any autonomous car, even an Apple car. I buy a car for the driving part. Otherwise I will just call an Uber, or hire a chauffeur.
Talks ARE going on with multiple car manufacturers. This whole Apple car story has high merit. Apple is serious about competing in personal transportation. Some senior executive in Kia leaked rumors of the potential partnership to sabotage purposely the proposed deal. We know some Hyundai/Kia senior leadership did not want Apple prescribing authoritatively unconditional and imperiously production operations. Can you relate with proud Apple contracting with an outside entity prescribing authoritatively unconditional and imperiously operations over Apple staffs? Apple has multiple prospective partnering sources, and Apple could even do a complete vertical integrated build of the Apple car.
I am confident Apple is proceeding the path of semi-autonomous vehicles. It’s not in Apple’s DNA to surge directly with haste into “not fully dependable basic functionality level 5 autonomy.” There’s also the whole matter of regulatory approval. You need real-world situations for Level 5 involving millions of miles driven (which Tesla cars have experienced) because nothing is more complex than the real world. Apple doesn’t nosedive directly into fires.
I agree with Daniel Ives. An Apple Car is in the mix. It’s not if, but when; and, it is soon because talks with car manufacturers are being held.
Which kinda/sorta raises another question. How upgradable will the systems be? Electronics/OS’s etc. can become non-functional with advancements a lot sooner than basic mechanicals, ICE’s etc. I suspect.