Apple, Google, and Autonomous Driving: Way Mo' to This Than Meets the Eye?

Cherise Threewitt
by Cherise Threewitt

Earlier this month, Apple and Google both announced plans to kill off their self-driving car projects in favor of focusing on developing the underlying technology. We reported it here. But it’s a little weird that one announcement came so close on the heels of the other. Apple’s Project Titan, formerly a self-driving car project, will presumably continue to compete with Google’s Waymo, which is a subsidiary for Google’s efforts thus far in the field. It’s a race, even if neither company has acknowledged it as such.

Last we knew, Project Titan was testing self-driving Lexus RX450h SUVs around Silicon Valley, which were first spotted in late April. Waymo was arguably more successful, since they’d actually succeeded in building a fleet of the Firefly self-driving car pod.

Apple and Google are both being vague about this change in plans, as usual, but we already know a fair amount about how these companies interact with auto manufacturers. We just need to look at Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone integration. Some automakers eschew these systems entirely, in favor of their own native smartphone integration and infotainment interfaces. A handful of manufacturers have chosen to support just one or the other.

Many car brands, though, have decided to offer both interfaces to appeal to the most broad range of customers. In this way, Apple and Google both exert considerable influence on automakers based simply on the fact that they sell smartphones.

If Project Titan and Waymo both succeed at becoming functional and user-friendly self-driving car systems, car buyers can expect something similar.Don’t forget that, as Apple and Google (as well as Samsung, Uber, and others) work on autonomous technology, most mainstream automakers are also hard at work developing their own systems. Mercedes has an app that can park a car remotely via smartphone. Range Rover has been working on a similar self-parking system. And lots of automakers, such as GM, Tesla, and Volvo, have come up with suites of features that work together to provide the experience of a semi-autonomous car, with varying degrees of success, setbacks, and self-drivability.

In fact, Business Insider suggests Apple is too late to catch up, in part because Apple CarPlay is Apple’s only significant influence on the transportation industry. If both companies, and Apple in particular, fall so far behind the curve, why bother? Forbes suggests they’re after the data that could be collected, analyzed, and used for research and marketing purposes.

Assume for a moment that Apple and Google win, neither forces the other into submission, and both have a shot at working with automakers to get their tech into cars. It’s possible (but probably not likely) that automakers may abandon their investments and decide to collaborate instead, much like they’ve overwhelmingly done with smartphone integration. (It wouldn’t be a total loss, of course; the cameras, sensors, hardware, and general car-building expertise would still be needed, just like cars need infotainment systems to run Apple CarPlay or Android Auto.)

This is a big leap, perhaps, but it raises interesting possibilities. We can hypothesize that if these tech companies have their way, this tech won’t be “included” with cars, and that’s because they want data. They want to sell their hand-held devices and use them to gather information about us. They want us to carry our phones everywhere — more than we already even do — and use them to drive our cars.

In May, Uber filed a patent for a mobile device that allows a user to control the non-driving functions of a self-driving car. That falls a little short of Apple and Google’s presumed aspirations, but that’s fine for now. Uber’s up front about the company’s plans to eventually have an autonomous fleet, but Uber doesn’t develop mobile platforms or sell devices, so this is just further evidence to support this line of speculation.

If autonomous technology does indeed shift in this direction — a smartphone provides the backbone the car needs to start, stop, navigate, and park on its own— it’ll mean interesting things for the Android/iPhone war that’s been going on since the iPhone was introduced ten years ago and the first Android rolled out a year later.

If Apple and Google gain control of autonomous driving and use smartphones as a means to do it, the brand of your phone could become a much more significant decision. Ultimately, it’ll be up to the automakers to decide whether they want to fall in line or go it alone, just like they did with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Would you be willing (or forced) to buy a brand of smartphone that can integrate with and drive the brand of car you own? If that’s the case, we could someday see the iPhone/Android battle drive car sales, as consumers choose car brands based on compatibility with their preferred device.

This change in plans certainly suggests that there’s something else going on. That there’s more to be gained by developing proprietary technology that bonds with another data-generating product — your car — than building and selling the car itself. These announcements seemed to take industry experts by surprise, yet they’re much more in line with what we should expect from both companies.

Cherise Threewitt
Cherise Threewitt

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  • Fishiftstick Fishiftstick on Jun 26, 2017

    If you want to earn money, you have to create value. Today high value is in design and technology, not manufacturing. Apple and Google both have the resources to start their own car plants. Heck, either could buy GM or Ford if it wanted in on the business of turning steel into cars. They don't, because they are smart enough to understand that's not where the money is. Maybe their CEOs should consider running for president.

  • Sector 5 Sector 5 on Jun 26, 2017

    Suppose Apple & Google are dodging the ICE melt? While companies like Tesla can sweat out EV. Parking app? I thought that was the great autonomous evil. A private car spending 90% of life parked, clogging streets. While an autonomous fleet constantly on the move would alleviate that issue.

  • Jeff JMII--If I did not get my Maverick my next choice was a Santa Cruz. They are different but then they are both compact pickups the only real compact pickups on the market. I am glad to hear that the Santa Cruz will have knobs and buttons on it for 2025 it would be good if they offered a hybrid as well. When I looked at both trucks it was less about brand loyalty and more about price, size, and features. I have owned 2 gm made trucks in the past and liked both but gm does not make a true compact truck and neither does Ram, Toyota, or Nissan. The Maverick was the only Ford product that I wanted. If I wanted a larger truck I would have kept either my 99 S-10 extended cab with a 2.2 I-4 5 speed or my 08 Isuzu I-370 4 x 4 with the 3.7 I-5, tow package, heated leather seats, and other niceties and it road like a luxury vehicle. I believe the demand is there for other manufacturers to make compact pickups. The proposed hybrid Toyota Stout would be a great truck. Subaru has experience making small trucks and they could make a very competitive compact truck and Subaru has a great all wheel drive system. Chevy has a great compact pickup offered in South America called the Montana which gm could make in North America and offered in the US and Canada. Ram has a great little compact truck offered in South America as well. Compact trucks are a great vehicle for those who want an open bed for hauling but what a smaller more affordable efficient practical vehicle.
  • Groza George I don’t care about GM’s anything. They have not had anything of interest or of reasonable quality in a generation and now solely stay on business to provide UAW retirement while they slowly move production to Mexico.
  • Arthur Dailey We have a lease coming due in October and no intention of buying the vehicle when the lease is up.Trying to decide on a replacement vehicle our preferences are the Maverick, Subaru Forester and Mazda CX-5 or CX-30.Unfortunately both the Maverick and Subaru are thin on the ground. Would prefer a Maverick with the hybrid, but the wife has 2 'must haves' those being heated seats and blind spot monitoring. That requires a factory order on the Maverick bringing Canadian price in the mid $40k range, and a delivery time of TBD. For the Subaru it looks like we would have to go up 2 trim levels to get those and that also puts it into the mid $40k range.Therefore are contemplating take another 2 or 3 year lease. Hoping that vehicle supply and prices stabilize and purchasing a hybrid or electric when that lease expires. By then we will both be retired, so that vehicle could be a 'forever car'. And an increased 'carbon tax' just kicked in this week in most of Canada. Prices are currently $1.72 per litre. Which according to my rough calculations is approximately $5.00 per gallon in US currency.Any recommendations would be welcomed.
  • Eric Wait! They're moving? Mexico??!!
  • GrumpyOldMan All modern road vehicles have tachometers in RPM X 1000. I've often wondered if that is a nanny-state regulation to prevent drivers from confusing it with the speedometer. If so, the Ford retro gauges would appear to be illegal.
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