In July 2014, German car maker BMW’s board member for development, Herbert Diess, told a panel discussion that, in the foreseeable future, “the car will become intelligent, part of the Internet”. He cautioned that “the strong players in this area are in the United States, in the software development area. We will surely need to find alliances in this field.” This helps to explain recent rumors that Apple has negotiated with BMW to make an electric car – and the car manufacturer’s own i3 electric car could prove an excellent basis for Apple’s electric car.
News of Apple’s move towards involvement in electric car manufacturing began in February this year, with Apple CEO Tim Cook having apparently approved this move about a year earlier, paving the way for hundreds of his company’s employees to get underway with the project. This project, said to be codenamed ‘Titan’, has seen other intriguing public developments since then, including news just this week that Cook and other Apple executives had visited BMW’s i3 production line in Leipzig, Germany.
Negotiations between Apple and BMW have apparently cooled since that visit, as – according to one source cited by Reuters – Apple seemingly wanted to consider making its own electric car without BMW’s involvement. Still, Reuters has also been told that Apple-BMW talks could be revived at some stage – and, indeed, it would seem wise for Apple to, as the Cupertino company had reportedly previously done, seek to use the car maker’s i3 electric car as the basis for its own car project.
The i3 has been favorably received since the earliest retail deliveries of the car began in 2013, and is capable of traveling about 80 miles on a single charge. Longer trips than this are possible through use of the optional petrol-based range extender.
Apple certainly has the potential to enhance the functionality of this car’s dashboard, given that it already offers CarPlay, through which an iPhone can be connected to the i3 for some iOS apps and services to appear on the dashboard’s built-in display. Meanwhile, Apple’s aptitude for visually-pleasing design, which even BMW’s R&D chief Klaus Froehlich acknowledged earlier this year, could lend the car a more streamlined look for both its exterior and interior.
Should an Apple-BMW deal go ahead, however, Apple’s biggest and most positive influences are likely to be in the software. There is already the BMW i Remote App, which enables i3 owners to check their car’s charging status, lock its doors and locate nearby charging stations – all from an iPhone or Apple Watch. An Apple electric car could, therefore, see an even greater focus on intuitive digital features and Internet usage – for example, for the car’s controls, music and other systems – than the i3 in its current form.