Volkswagen CEO Skeptical About Apple Car, Believes in CarPlay-Only Approach
Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess is skeptical that Apple is planning to sell a physical vehicle and believes that the company is focusing on cockpit software instead (via Reuters).
Diess made the comments at the hub.berlin technology conference in Berlin, where Apple is also in attendance represented by its vice president of Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives, Lisa Jackson. "I'm not sure if Apple will actually bring cars to the market in the end. It would be a big effort," he said, adding that he believes Apple will focus on car cockpit software instead.
The remarks come weeks after Apple unveiled a next-generation CarPlay experience at WWDC 2022, featuring support for multiple large displays, speedometers, fuel levels, climate controls, and more. Users will be able to personalize their in-car experience by choosing different gauge cluster designs and widgets, with the new version of CarPlay effectively offering a wholly Apple-designed experience for all of a car's displays and functions. While the new CarPlay experience is designed so that users never need to exit the system, Apple said that automakers will be able to retain a sense of brand identity with the new system.
Apple said the first vehicles to support the new CarPlay experience will be announced in late 2023. While Volkswagen is not among the automakers that have committed to implement it in new cars, two of the goliath automaker's sub-brands, Audi and Porsche, were included in Apple's list of initial supporters.
Apple has been rumored to be working on a self-driving electric vehicle for around eight years, but a series of development challenges have led to questions about when the project will be officially revealed, if ever. Earlier this year, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo warned that Apple's car team had "been dissolved for some time," and needed to be reorganized soon in order for mass production to begin by 2025.
Related Stories
Polish developer Michał Gapiński has released a new and improved version of his "Tesla Android Project" which brings Apple's CarPlay experience to more Tesla vehicles than ever before.
According to Gapiński, version 2022.25.1 provides "100% functional CarPlay integration for any Tesla," and comes with several new features and bug fixes.
The project now supports DRM video playback so that...
Apple today at WWDC 2022 announced the "next generation" of CarPlay, which will support multiple displays within a vehicle, offer built-in climate controls for adjusting the temperature of the A/C or heat within the CarPlay interface, and more.
The next-generation CarPlay experience will be able to provide content across multiple screens within a vehicle, and deeper integration with a...
Volvo-backed electric vehicle maker Polestar today announced that the latest over-the-air update for the Polestar 2 adds CarPlay support, allowing iPhone users to conveniently access commonly used apps from the dashboard, complete with Siri control.
The addition of CarPlay in the Polestar 2 is interesting given that the vehicle's infotainment system is powered by Android Automotive, which is ...
Thursday October 7, 2021 4:28 am PDT by
Sami FathiApple is looking to expand CarPlay's functionality to include controls for core car functions such as the air conditioning system, radio, speedometer, seats, and more, according to a new report from Bloomberg.
The project, internally codenamed "IronHeart," is still in its early stages but would include Apple working with carmakers to expand CarPlay's functionality to control core car...
Apple CarPlay is now available for Tesla vehicles – but only for owners willing to resort to a workaround that uses a connected Raspberry Pi.
In the face of Tesla's apparent indifference to repeated calls to bring CarPlay to its automobiles, Polish developer Michał Gapiński demoed his success in bringing Apple's in-car system to his Tesla Model 3 earlier this year. As noted by Tesla North, ...
BMW is temporarily shipping new cars without Apple CarPlay and Android Auto functionality due to the automaker changing its chip supplier (via Automotive News Europe).
The new chips built into many BMWs manufactured this year require updated software to be able to run Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. BMW customers who receive a new car without CarPlay are being asked by dealerships to wait...
Drivers will be able to preauthorize fuel purchases directly within Apple CarPlay starting this fall (via Reuters).
The feature, first mentioned in a developer session at WWDC earlier this month, will allow CarPlay users to use apps to navigate to a pump and preauthorize a fuel purchase. Fuel companies will offer individual apps that users will need to install on their iPhone to be available ...
A Tesla Model 3 owner has resorted to a workaround to implement Apple CarPlay in his vehicle, amid no sign of official support from Tesla (via Tesla North).
Apple CarPlay and Apple Music support are among the most-requested Tesla features, but with no indication that Tesla is willing to implement Apple CarPlay in its vehicles, Polish developer Michał Gapiński took matters into his own...
Popular Stories
The redesigned MacBook Air with the all-new M2 Apple silicon chip will be available for customers starting Friday, July 15, MacRumors has learned from a retail source. The new MacBook Air was announced and previewed during WWDC earlier this month, with Apple stating availability will begin in July. The MacBook Air features a redesigned body that is thinner and lighter than the previous...
Fifteen years ago to this day, the iPhone, the revolutionary device presented to the world by the late Steve Jobs, officially went on sale.
The first iPhone was announced by Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007, and went on sale on June 29, 2007. "An iPod, a phone, an internet mobile communicator... these are not three separate devices," Jobs famously said. "Today, Apple is going to reinvent the...
Apple last week launched an updated version of the 13-inch MacBook Pro, and it is the first Mac that is equipped with an updated M2 chip. As it's using a brand new chip, we thought we'd pick up the M2 MacBook Pro and compare it to the prior-generation M1 MacBook Pro to see just what's new.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. For the video comparison, we're using the...
The Wall Street Journal's Joanna Stern today shared a new documentary about the evolution of the iPhone ahead of the 15th anniversary of the device launching on June 29, 2007. The documentary includes an interview with Apple's marketing chief Greg Joswiak, iPhone co-creator Tony Fadell, and a family of iPhone users.
One segment of the interview reflects on Android smartphones gaining larger...
With many customers choosing to upgrade their iPhone every two or three years nowadays, there are lots of iPhone 11 Pro users who might be interested in upgrading to the iPhone 14 Pro later this year. Those people are in for a treat, as three years of iPhone generations equals a long list of new features and changes to look forward to.
Below, we've put together a list of new features and...
Apple today began selling refurbished Mac Studio models for the first time in the United States, Canada, and select European countries, such as Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Spain, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.
In the United States, two refurbished Mac Studio configurations are currently available, including one with the M1 Max chip (10-core CPU and 24-core GPU) for...
There appears to be a serious bug in macOS High Sierra that enables the root superuser on a Mac with a blank password and no security check. The bug, discovered by developer Lemi Ergin, lets anyone log into an admin account using the username "root" with no password. This works when attempting to access an administrator's account on an unlocked Mac, and it also provides access at the login...
Top Rated Comments
Still wish Apple would let you enable some versions of a CarPlay mode on your phone without having to physically be connected to a car that supports CarPlay. It would be much safer and easier when driving older vehicles, especially on ones that only have connection for audio. Most people are mounting their phone in the screen position anyway.
Apple already made iPods, computers, browsers, it was just a phone they hadn’t put to market before.
This is a whole car. The majority of the car is not going to be an element they’ve ever ventured in: car mechanics, physical comfort, ride handling, seat softness, etc. How many large car manufacturers make poorly handling cars? How long does it take well known car manufacturers to get the best version of a car to market?
This isn’t a walk in the park like an iPhone. Anyone who keeps trying to use that analogy are blind.