Tim Cook announces iPhone 11.
Source: Apple
Apple CEO Tim Cook hinted at the company’s work in autonomous vehicles after recent reports that the company is back in talks to develop its own car.
“Autonomy itself is a core technology in my opinion. If you step back a bit, the car is in many ways a robot. A self-driving car is a robot. And so there are many things you can do with it. Autonomy. And we’ll see what Apple does, ”Cook said in an interview released Monday with Kara Swisher on the“ Sway ”podcast.
“We explore so many things internally. Many of them never see the light of day. I’m not saying they won’t,” Cook added.
When asked if Apple itself was working on a car or the technology inside a car, Cook declined to comment.
“We love to integrate hardware, software and services and find their intersections because we think that’s where the magic is. And so that’s what we love to do. And we love the primary technology that revolves around it. ” he said.
Apple has long been expected to enter the auto industry with its own car or sell its technology to other automakers, and has taken a number of steps to signal its intention to do so. To bolster its tech ranks, the company acquired autonomous auto startup Drive.ai in 2019.
An autonomous vehicle could position the company against Tesla, which is rolling out its own self-driving features. In 2018, Apple hired Doug Field, then Tesla’s Senior Vice President of Engineering, to work on supposedly self-driving cars. Apple has also hired several other former Tesla employees, including former Tesla vice president of engineering Michael Schwekutsch, now senior director of engineering for Apple’s Special Projects Group.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk had even said last year that he once tried to initiate talks to sell the company to Apple, but Cook declined to attend a meeting.
“You know, I have never spoken to Elon, although I have great admiration and respect for the company he has built. I think Tesla has done an incredible job of not only establishing leadership, but also retaining the lead throughout. such a long period of time in the EV space. So I really appreciate them, “Cook told Swisher.
CNBC recently reported that Apple was about to sign a deal with Hyundai-Kia to produce an Apple-branded autonomous electric vehicle at Kia’s assembly plant in West Point, Georgia. However, the automakers later walked back on the claims.
Listen to the full interview with Tim Cook here.
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