Author

Avatar for Zac Hall
polestar carplay

Volkswagen CEO questions Apple Car future as Polestar ships OTA CarPlay and promises next-gen adoption

Apple’s car ambitions range from replacing your infotainment system with the iPhone to someday selling self-driving electric vehicles. Not every auto exec is convinced Apple will ever cross the finish line to shipping its own car, however. Meanwhile, more automakers are continuing to adopt Apple CarPlay even as the company teases its next grand vision for taking over your car software.

Expand Expanding Close

Ex-Tesla VP turned Apple Car engineer poached by electric plane startup in latest staff loss

Apple has lost a senior member of its autonomous electric car team to a startup focused on electric aviation. Michael Schwekutsch, who left Tesla to join Apple as senior director of engineering for Special Projects Group in 2019, has left the company to work for Archer. This is just the latest in a revolving door situation surrounding Apple’s years-long effort to develop an electric vehicle with self-driving features.

Expand Expanding Close

Porsche Taycan EV gains exclusive Apple Podcasts and Apple Music time-synced lyrics integration

Last year Porsche and Apple collaborated to integrate Apple Music streaming directly in the first all-electric Taycan. Now the German automaker and Apple are extending the partnership to bring new features to Porsche’s first electric vehicle. Apple Music’s time-synced lyrics feature will now be viewable on the passenger display inside the Porsche Taycan, and Apple Podcasts is directly integrating with an infotainment system for the first time.

Expand Expanding Close

Report: Apple possibly leasing Chrysler’s former proving grounds to test autonomous cars

Rumors that Apple plans to develop and market a self-driving vehicle may have gone cold, but CEO Tim Cook has publicly acknowledged that the company is working on a ‘large project’ around autonomous systems.

The latest detail in the story comes via Jalopnik which reports that Apple may have leased Chrysler’s old proving grounds which could be used for testing autonomous cars.


Expand
Expanding
Close

Report: Former hardware exec Bob Mansfield now leading Apple’s electric vehicle project

Site default logo image

Tim Cook, Steve Jobs, and Bob Mansfield during 2010 iPhone 4 'Antennagate' press conference

Tim Cook, Steve Jobs, and Bob Mansfield during 2010 iPhone 4 ‘Antennagate’ press conference

Apple’s electric vehicle project may be gaining steam thanks to a recent change in staff at the top. According to a new report from The Wall Street Journal, Apple has recruited Bob Mansfield out of retirement and back to the company to lead the ‘Project Titan’ Apple Car team. Mansfield previously led Apple’s hardware team before moving to a special projects role then an advisor position. Pulling Mansfield out of retirement to work on the Apple Car effort suggests the company strongly intends to bring an electric vehicle to market as the former exec has a reputation for getting the job done.


Expand
Expanding
Close

Shift your expectations, Apple’s electric vehicle reportedly won’t debut until 2021

Site default logo image

A Tesla-style concept of the Apple Car from CarWow

A Tesla-style concept of the Apple Car from CarWow

News around Project Titan, the name given to Apple’s electric vehicle ambitions has been relatively quiet lately despite the anticipated introduction in 2020 inching closer by the day. That may be because the introduction target for Apple Car has moved back one year to 2021. Included in a profile of three brothers who are said to have worked on the Apple Car initiative, The Information includes this detail:


Expand
Expanding
Close

Report: Apple interested in charging station tech for powering rumored electric vehicle

Site default logo image

Apple-Car-1

If Apple is going to produce an electric vehicle like Tesla, then naturally Apple will want to provide customers with a way to recharge away from home without relying on infrastructure from third parties. Reuters now reports that Apple is showing interest in such charging stations as it’s talking to existing companies and hiring engineers with experience in building them.


Expand
Expanding
Close

Tim Cook says it’ll be ‘Christmas Eve for a while’ when asked about Apple Car

Site default logo image

Chevy Volt CarPlay

Tim Cook and company lead Apple’s annual shareholders meeting of 2016 this morning, and as usual there were some interesting questions and answers between those in attendance. Like last year, Apple’s rumored electric vehicle project came up, only the Apple CEO didn’t automatically defer to CarPlay this go around.


Expand
Expanding
Close

Hands-on with CarPlay on the new Chevy Volt’s 8-inch capacitive display [Video]

Site default logo image

Chevy Volt CarPlay

Earlier this year at CES, Seth and I had the opportunity to test drive the new Chevy Volt hybrid (okay, I actually just held the camera in the back seat) which has one of the best CarPlay screen we’ve seen yet. Check out our hands-on experience with the Volt’s very nice display from our test drive below …


Expand
Expanding
Close

Porsche CEO says ‘iPhone belongs in your pocket, not on the road’, dismissing autonomous cars

Site default logo image

Porsche CarPlay

As Electrek covers, the automobile landscape is clearly changing with electric vehicles replacing gas-powered cars, autonomous features potentially replacing drivers, and iPhone-maker Apple developing an EV of its own. But Porsche wants no part in that future says CEO Oliver Blume. Reuters reports that Blume told German media this week essentially that a Porsche is meant to be driven, and an iPhone is meant for your pocket, not the road:

“One wants to drive a Porsche by oneself,” Blume said in an interview with regional newspaper Westfalen-Blatt published on Monday.

“An iPhone belongs in your pocket, not on the road,” Blume added, saying that Porsche did not need to team up with any big technology companies.

While Blume was using the iPhone line largely to explain away the need for computerized vehicles and embrace the nature of high-performance cars like Porsches, it’s a curious one as the new 911 features Apple’s CarPlay


Expand
Expanding
Close

Ferrari chairman believes Apple will build a car, calls Elon Musk ‘great marketer’ after Tesla dig

Apple CarPlay FerrariSpeaking today on CNBC, Ferrari chairman and Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne spoke affirmatively when asked if he believes Apple will make a car. The Ferrari boss explained that he believes the automobile space is one in which Apple can exhibit its skills, clarifying that he believes Apple will have a car assembled rather than building it on their own. Marchionne added that Apple has not approached Fiat for being its partner for assembling a car.
Expand
Expanding
Close