Source: Apple is gathering advice from carmakers and automotive suppliers about parts and production methods as it learns to build a self-driving electric car
Apple studies self-driving car, auto industry source says — (Reuters) - Technology giant Apple (AAPL.O) …
Context & Ripple Effects
Apple's secret car effort is taking shape on two fronts at once: Reuters reports the company is consulting carmakers and automotive suppliers about parts and production methods, while the same week's coverage shows Apple poached the head of Mercedes-Benz's research and development plus other auto specialists into a new lab. Consulting the incumbents while hiring their experts suggests Apple wants to learn manufacturing rather than outsource its thinking about it.
Why it matters now: this early sourcing-and-talent phase set up everything that followed in the arc — the reported plan to build a car by 2024 with internally developed lidar and battery technology, and the talks with Hyundai-Kia over a manufacturing deal for a driverless last-mile vehicle.
First-order effects
- Automotive suppliers being consulted gain a potential marquee customer, but each advisory conversation also hands Apple the production knowledge it needs to eventually bypass traditional OEM relationships.
- Carmakers face a direct dilemma: sharing parts and process advice with Apple means helping train a future competitor with one of the largest balance sheets in consumer hardware.
Second-order effects
- The manufacturing-knowledge gap pushes Apple toward an assembly partnership rather than greenfield plants — which is exactly where the Hyundai-Kia negotiations landed, forcing automakers to decide whether to become contract manufacturers for a rival brand.
- Suppliers who help Apple now may find pricing power shifting away from them if Apple internalizes component design the way it did chips and sensors, mirroring its vertically integrated hardware playbook.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, the auto industry starts splitting along consumer-electronics lines: a brand and software layer controlled by tech firms atop contract-manufactured vehicles, reducing legacy carmakers to assemblers unless they defend that position.
- Consulting-plus-hiring becomes the template for how large tech entrants absorb a physical-industry skill base quickly enough to matter — talent acquisition functioning as due diligence on whether to build or buy capability.
The trend: Consumer-electronics giants are entering full vehicle manufacturing by borrowing incumbent automotive knowledge first and negotiating contract assembly second, compressing what used to be a decade-long learning curve.