Apple and Tesla Partnership on Autonomous Cars? Not A Crazy Idea

BOLD RIDE

Copyright © 2016 Bold Ride LLC.

 

Posted by George Kennedy

                                          

Going into CES 2016, we anticipated the announcement of a partnership between Ford and Google to build autonomous cars, however that announcement never came, as Ford announced the next evolution of its own in-house infotainment system, SyncConnect. But that doesn’t mean we can’t expect some actual major players to start teaming up to make autonomous cars.

 

According to a recent report published by Thompson Reuters, a very viable partnership would be between Apple and Tesla, citing the strengths and weaknesses of the two companies on each’s march towards autonomous vehicles.

Like the speculated Ford-Google partnership, one company needs automotive expertise, and the other needs a boost in tech-savvy. For Tesla’s part, it is still a newcomer to the automotive world, but it is light years ahead of where Apple might be when it comes to its Project Titan. Moreover, the lessons learned bringing the Model S from flammable vehicle of skepticism to media darling are likely lessons that Apple will have to learn in its own pursuits. Such a partnership would eliminate this potential redundancy.

 

 

Currently, Apple’s only automotive-related product is CarPlay, which is an infotainment OS. Meanwhile, Apple’s computing power and massive R&D divisions could be a valuable asset for Tesla.

The report concluded, “We’re still a few years from the driverless car epidemic, but it’s starting to come into clearer view on the horizon.” In the meantime, expect to hear plenty of news about likely (and unlikely) partnerships in the years to come.