DESPITE the announcement of Apple Inc.’s plans of developing a passenger vehicle that could include its own inhouse-made battery, Germany’s luxury car maker Volkswagen does not seem too concerned by the innovation.
“The car industry is not a typical tech-sector that you could take over at a single stroke,” Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess said. “Apple will not manage that overnight,”
Reuters reported in December last year that Apple may have progressed enough to build a vehicle for mass markets by 2024, helped by cost cuts in battery technology.
While Apple’s plans are not public, Diess said its intentions as such were “logical” because the company had expertise in batteries, software and design, and that it had deep pockets to build on these competencies.
“Still, we are not afraid,” he said.
Volkswagen plans to develop software needed for autonomous cars in-house to ensure it can compete against tech firms in the field of electric car data. – Feb 15, 2021
