[bane]

I'm on the side of things where I think Apple realized that electric cars are sorta giant iPhones on wheels and thought they could move into the market if there wasn't already a strong leader. This all made sense when it was clear the technology was there and Tesla wasn't a sure thing, so there was ample competitive room to elbow into.

When Tesla survived and thrived I believe this caused Apple to take a step back and watch how the market plays out for a bit before committing...trying to find out of there really was a play there.

In addition, Tim Cook is a supply-chain guy, and the supply chain for electric vehicles is still very immature and extremely dependent on technology that Apple doesn't really have expertise in (yet), batteries. There's just not a good selection of suppliers for batteries that can produce at Apple's volume needs, and at car scale.

[amelius]

> electric cars are sorta giant iPhones on wheels

Except cars can't compete for your attention. Your eyes must be on the road.

[Iolaum]

Self driving??

[mavhc]

How good is Apple at Machine Learning though?

[aksss]

>sorta giant iphones on wheels

I think they're giant smart TVs on wheels. Apple is right in complimenting the primary function of the vehicle with an offboard services solution, which replaces the crappy built-in 'smart' platform.