Jobs didn't even write a PowerPoint presentation about the Apple car, but Cook tried to drive it on the highway

Jobs' father was a competent auto mechanic. After Jobs became successful in his career, he would change his car to a brand new silver Mercedes-Benz SL55 AMG every June. Especially when the iPhone completely changed the mobile phone industry, Jobs, surrounded by countless praises, once made such a grand ambition: "We have the platform to design a good car, and we will build a car in the near future."

Compared to the PCs and mobile phones that made Jobs famous, building a car was perhaps the goal he most wanted to achieve in his life. Jobs once thought that building a car was easy. He said, "Cars have batteries, computers, engines, and mechanical structures. The iPhone also has these things. It even has an engine."

Yes, no one has ever underestimated Apple's determination to build a car. In 2014, when Apple launched CarPlay, it also launched the "Titan Project" plan, hoping to create a revolutionary "iCar" with its own strength. Unfortunately, Apple underestimated the threshold of the automotive industry. Until now, we still haven't seen the shadow of Apple's car, not even a PPT.

1.

Now, Cook has taken over Jobs' dream of making cars. Compared with Jobs, who had a passion for cars that was inherited from his father and integrated into his blood, and regarded making cars as a visionary plan for his dream, Cook's dream of making cars is largely derived from the active expansion of Apple's own prospects. In Cook's view, cars have nothing to do with dreams, but are closely related to financial reports. Apple needs to find another long-term track besides mobile phones.

According to IDC, global smartphone sales fell 6.6% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2019, marking the sixth consecutive quarter of decline. Taking the fourth quarter of 2018 as an example, even with the launch of new models, iPhone sales fell 11.5% compared to the same quarter last year.

Simply put, the iPhone, Apple's revenue pillar, has shown signs of decline. Looking at Apple's history, the company has almost always been able to find the next lane and create the next legend when its popular products are at their peak - from Mac to iPod, and from iPod to iPhone.

The iPhone has been around for more than a decade, but Apple still hasn't found its next path. Although Apple has launched products such as Apple Watch and iPad during this period, it can be seen from the financial report that the iPad's revenue is only 1/12 of the total revenue, while the iPhone always accounts for more than half of the total revenue.

Apple's panic is obvious. Last year, Apple unprecedentedly released three iPhone models, with prices ranging from 6,000 to 10,000. However, due to the low desire of consumers to replace their phones, iPhone had to resort to discount promotions, a common tactic used by Chinese brands.

In order to stimulate sales, Apple has for the first time cut the price of iPhones that have not yet entered the iteration period. The iPhone XR was sold at a low price of only more than 4,000 yuan. There is no doubt that the premium ability of the iPhone in the market is weakening. If this continues, it will be reflected in the financial report in a terrible way. Therefore, Apple urgently needs to move to the next track. In the driverless car track that Tesla and Google have already proven, Cook has become one of the most important players in this industry with an acquisition.

Apple has never been so close to realizing Steve Jobs's car dream.

2.

On June 26, Apple reached an acquisition agreement with Drive.ai, an autonomous driving startup founded by former Baidu chief scientist Andrew Ng.

Drive.ai was founded in 2015. Its main business is to develop AI software for self-driving cars using deep learning technology. In 2017, a 3-minute video of Drive.ai's self-driving car was released, which amazed the industry. On a dark night with heavy rain, Drive.ai's self-driving car drove on a narrow street with many cars intersecting, and it was more stable than human driving.

Anyone familiar with driverless cars knows that rainy days are the biggest challenge for driverless technology, because rain can be confused with road obstacles and confuse the sensors of driverless cars. The fact that Drive.ai's driverless technology can operate in the rain indirectly confirms Drive.ai's technical strength.

In May 2018, Drive.ai had its highlight moment. It deployed 3-4 self-driving vans in Frisco, Texas, and started a pilot operation service for unmanned commercialization. In October of the same year, Drive.ai launched an autonomous taxi service for residents of Arlington, Texas.

Drive.ai's products were officially launched only three years after its establishment. Compared with Apple's "Project Titan" which took five years to develop without even a PPT, Drive.ai's evolution can be described as extremely rapid.

The word compromise never existed in Jobs's dictionary. Cook, on the other hand, is a master at following advice, and he would even engage in price wars for sales. Based on Cook's practicality, Apple's acquisition of Drive.ai will never be a gamble. At most, it will be similar to the acquisition of Siri in 2010, starting with software, and building Apple's own self-driving system at the lowest cost.

3.

Cook once said of driverless cars: "This is a revolutionary advancement. It feels great not to have to wait in line at a gas station."

Acquiring Drive.ai is Apple's second best option. Apple's real target has always been Tesla. As early as 2013, when Tesla encountered a delivery crisis, there were reports that Apple wanted to acquire Tesla; six years later, when Tesla's stock price plummeted, Apple once again flirted with Tesla, but was rejected by Musk.

The reason why Apple is so persistent in pursuing Tesla is that it knows that there is a huge difference between the difficulty of making a mobile phone and making a car. Tesla Model S was released in June 2008, but it was not officially delivered until June 2012, six years later. Another example is Mr. Jia Yueting, who we are familiar with. He arrived in the United States in July 2017 to focus on making cars. Two years have passed, and now there is no sign of a car.

Self-driving cars are difficult to build, mainly because the technical threshold is too high and the accumulation of relevant industry technologies is extremely shallow. Compared with mobile phones, when Apple launched the iPhone, it basically integrated new technologies in the industrial chain, but cars require deep technical foundations. Take Tesla as an example. Its lithium batteries, motors, and electronic control systems are the foundation of its ten-year-long efforts. It is not easy to bypass or fill the moat.

In terms of software, self-driving car technology requires a lot of testing and calculations. From the 2018 road test data released by the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) of 48 companies that have obtained California self-driving road test licenses, we can get a glimpse of the technical background of major companies in unmanned driving.

Google Waymo, which ranks first, has an MPD value (Miles Per Disengagement: the number of miles a self-driving car can travel autonomously each time it intervenes) of an astonishing 11,017.5 miles, leaving other companies far behind.

On the other hand, Apple ranked only 28th, with an MPD value of 1.1 miles, which is basically the same level as a children's car. The hardware lacks technology and the software is far behind, so the "Titan Project" has become empty talk. With more than 200 layoffs, Apple gave up on making cars and returned to the old path of acquisitions. The acquisition of Drive.ai naturally became the best operation among Apple's suboptimal options.

I believe that Apple's acquisition of Drive.ai is not entirely for the company's existing achievements, but more for its talent pool and patent accumulation, to create a product with a unique Apple hegemony style through the high integration of software and hardware.

4.

Steve Jobs once described the iPhone's advantage as "a beautiful box with iOS in it." In other words, Apple sells user experience, and the soul of this experience is iOS.

If this concept is transferred to the automotive industry, combined with various trends, it is speculated that Apple is likely to approach the issue from the operating system perspective and build driverless cars.

After acquiring Drive.ai, Apple has gained sufficient competitiveness at the software level. With Drive.ai's technology and talent reserves plus Apple's terrifying cash flow, I believe Apple will easily achieve a leap in the software level of autonomous driving.

In addition, since cars are not like mobile phones and the cost of hardware integration is too high, Apple’s first driverless car will most likely choose to cooperate with traditional car manufacturers, initially through authorization and later through acquisitions to launch driverless cars that comply with Apple’s hegemony rules.

In fact, there have been reports in the industry that Apple has had contacts with BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and even BYD and McLaren, but ultimately failed to reach a cooperation agreement. It is reported that the main reason for the failure of the cooperation is Apple's strong desire for control. Apple hopes to control everything from design to data, and the car manufacturers only play the role of "Foxconn".

Although the "iCar" has not even reached the PPT stage yet, from the perspective of the industry and Apple itself, there are three factors that are very favorable to Apple.

First of all, thanks to the hard work of electric car manufacturers such as Tesla, the market and consumers have a strong interest in electric driverless cars, and there is no oligopoly in the market yet. Therefore, as long as Apple seizes the opportunity, it can reap the benefits.

Secondly, Apple has a cash flow of 200 billion US dollars, which is unmatched by any new car manufacturer - I have no guns or cannons, but I have money, so hardware will not be a big problem for Apple.

Most importantly, Apple has 506 Apple Stores in 25 countries and regions around the world, and these sales networks can directly connect its cars with consumers.

Will we really ride in Apple cars in the future? Can Cook achieve what Jobs couldn't do? Ten thousand questions are waiting for answers, but fortunately, everything finally has a good start.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.