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Agreed, it will be very interesting to see if "Apple Scale" [1] thinking works in automotive design[2] and manufacturing. Apple can buy 10,000 CNC machines for

by csours 10y ago

Agreed, it will be very interesting to see if "Apple Scale" [1] thinking works in automotive design[2] and manufacturing. Apple can buy 10,000 CNC machines for an iPhone frame, but there are a couple thousand parts at least that size in a car. The difference in physical scale between a phone and a car should not be dismissed... but I'm very interested to see what comes out of the process. 1. https://blog.bolt.io/no-you-cant-manufacture-that-like-apple-does-93bea02a3bbf#.smhful8w4 https://blog.bolt.io/no-you-cant-manufacture-that-like-apple... 2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjcm-ru-9iI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjcm-ru-9iI (this talk is good, but incredibly frustrating because the slides aren't shown)

semi-extrinsic 10y ago
There is also a big difference in the importance of reliability. Half the people I see with iPhones older than a year have broken screens. But with a car, you can't engineer it to last for two years and then expect the owner to scrap it and buy a new one. For all the talk of AR, shiny UX etc, keep in mind that a car has to retain at least some resale value for at least ten years, preferrably closer to twenty. Otherwise you'll be left with a lot of angry customers. Planned obsolesence is out of the question.
- rodgerd 10y ago
  This is true - secondary markets can make a huge difference in how affordable a car is perceived to be. Cars which are considered to have a long life command a high resale value, which cuts the real cost of buying new.
astrodust 10y ago
Apple's ability to put together a supply chain and get the right partners in place is not to be underestimated. The logistics of building a car are surely harder by orders of magnitude, you can't just FedEx cars around like you can crates of watch parts, but I'm sure there's a team that can execute at this level within Apple. If I were GM, Ford or any other big vendor I'd keep a close eye on the supply chain for industry robots. When Apple makes a move they're probably going to buy up a year's supply of these.

by csours 10y ago

semi-extrinsic 10y ago

There is also a big difference in the importance of reliability. Half the people I see with iPhones older than a year have broken screens. But with a car, you can't engineer it to last for two years and then expect the owner to scrap it and buy a new one. For all the talk of AR, shiny UX etc, keep in mind that a car has to retain at least some resale value for at least ten years, preferrably closer to twenty. Otherwise you'll be left with a lot of angry customers. Planned obsolesence is out of the question.

rodgerd 10y ago
This is true - secondary markets can make a huge difference in how affordable a car is perceived to be. Cars which are considered to have a long life command a high resale value, which cuts the real cost of buying new.

astrodust 10y ago

Apple's ability to put together a supply chain and get the right partners in place is not to be underestimated. The logistics of building a car are surely harder by orders of magnitude, you can't just FedEx cars around like you can crates of watch parts, but I'm sure there's a team that can execute at this level within Apple. If I were GM, Ford or any other big vendor I'd keep a close eye on the supply chain for industry robots. When Apple makes a move they're probably going to buy up a year's supply of these.