Will Apple-branded cars soon be on the road?
The boss of the firm, Tim Cook, alluded to work underway within his company on self-driving cars, without confirming the idea of a vehicle or a technology specific to the Apple brand, when from an interview with the
New York Times
published Monday, April 5.
“
We love to integrate electronic equipment, software and services, and find the points of intersection between those elements, because that's where the magic is, in our opinion.
(...) and we like to have the primary technology that makes it all
happen, ”he said in the Sway podcast.
Read also: Microsoft will invest in the autonomous car subsidiary of General Motors, valued at 30 billion
He declined to comment on reports that Apple is developing its own car or driverless driving technology, but recalled that the California group "is
exploring a lot of stuff internally
."
“
Many of them will never see the light of day.
I'm not saying this is the case.
Autonomy is the fundamental technology, in my opinion.
If you step back, the car, in a way, is a robot.
An autonomous car is a robot.
You can do a lot of things with autonomy.
And we'll see what Apple does,
”he explained.
Rumors around a deal
Rumors have been rife for several months on possible partnerships with car manufacturers.
At the beginning of February, several media announced that the American firm was on the verge of concluding an agreement to produce its own autonomous vehicles in cooperation with the South Korean giant Hyundai.
The two companies had not confirmed.
Tim Cook was also asked about the two major ongoing conflicts with his neighbor Facebook, on the one hand, and video game publisher Epic Games (Fortnite), on the other.
The iPhone maker is accused by these two companies and others of abusing its position as a dominant platform, to dictate the terms of relations with applications in a way that suits it, whether in terms of data privacy regulations or commissions on the App Store, the app download platform.
Apple is also facing investigations into possible anti-competitive practices by US authorities.
Read also: Apple builds its first energy storage "factory"
But the leader assured that the company cares above all about the safety of its users.
“
Apple has helped build an economy that brings in over $ 500 billion a year, and only receives a dab of that amount in payment for all the innovation it has facilitated and the costs of operating the store ( App Store).
It is therefore difficult in my opinion not to consider the App Store as an economic miracle,
”he said.
