I'm far from convinced Tesla actually needed so much robotics. Relying on robots so much might actually have been a strategic mistake due to their inexperience.

I'm far from convinced Tesla actually needed so much robotics. Relying on robots so much might actually have been a strategic mistake due to their inexperience. It looks to me like this bet has still to pay off. Nevertheless, Apple knowledge goes a lot further than supply chain optimization. They are actually quite good at manufacturing (both manual assembly and robotics). They know how to design products optimized for large volume production. They know how to work effectively with third parties. They know how to do quality control which is extremely important for a system integrator. Apple is not a pure software company: they already have a manufacturing culture in place inside the company. What they don't have is domain specific knowledge so if they really wanted to enter the transport market, I guess buying Tesla could make sense.