A recent report suggests Apple Inc. AAPL has considerably scaled back its self-driving car ambitions and will likely delay the launch until 2026.
What Happened: Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest on Monday weighed in on the report in its weekly Innovation newsletter. The delay in the launch of Apple’s autonomous car has lowered the odds of its success, said analyst Taisha Keeney.
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Autonomous taxi platforms will create a multi-trillion-dollar market opportunity due to price points much lower than that for personal transportation, Keeney said, citing the firm’s research. She added that the estimates assume that vehicles will be armed with fully autonomous technology.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has flagged that Cupertino is now looking at a design with steering wheels and pedals, and that would support full autonomy only on highways.
“Further, we expect autonomous taxi platforms to submit to natural geographic monopolies,” Keeney said.
Apple, therefore, could lag far behind competitors by 2026, Keeney added. The analyst noted that Waymo, former Alphabet Inc. GOOGL GOOG self-driving project, and General Motors Corp.’s GM Cruise have already launched commercial autonomous services in Phoenix and San Francisco.
Ark expects Elon Musk‘s Tesla Inc. TSLA to launch its fully autonomous vehicle in 2024.
Price Action: In premarket trading on Tuesday, Apple shares rose 0.33% to $144.97, according to Benzinga Pro data.
