An Apple Car has been rumored for many years with recent updates announced for CarPlay last month during the 2022 Apple Worldwide Developers Conference reigniting rumors for a full-fledged vehicle from Apple. However, the updates coming to CarPlay point to it becoming an operating system in vehicles that could negate any need for Apple (AAPL) to design its own vehicle.
What is the New CarPlay?
The new Apple CarPlay is designed to act as a full dashboard in new vehicles that wouldn’t just display music, maps, and phone information but would also include the speedometer, odometer, tire pressure, fuel level, and other fundamental features that are usually designed by the original automotive manufacturer. This would help provide a seamless design completely made by Apple that would result in one ecosystem being used.
Most importantly, perhaps the single best advantage that Apple provides over competitors in all of its fields is user interface and design that cleanly displays important information to its consumers. Apple users will often cite how devices communicate with each other with seamless integration as one of the strongest selling points such as iMessage carrying messages between a Macbook, iPad, and iPhone.
So if Apple CarPlay takes up the entire user interface of the vehicle and is used for interacting with pretty much anything from navigation to air conditioning, why bother designing the rest of the car?
Will There Be an Apple Car?
Automotive manufacturers don’t make their money selling base vehicles but instead the majority of profits come from the top-line models, parts, and services. There is very little incentive or reason for Apple to get in the car game and try to make their own vehicle or own branded car that is manufactured from another company such as Hyundai or Nissan. Some kind of licensing and branding deal could work but are there really that many people that want to buy an Apple Car? Would Apple try to reach all the various niches of the car market? Apple SUV? Apple pickup truck? Apple minivan?
The real value comes in an optional tech package that could be added to any new vehicle from all automotive manufacturers. Plenty of consumers would likely opt for a tech package that comes with an Apple-designed dashboard where people wouldn’t even need their phones to use Apple Maps or Music in the car. Apple should want as many people using its CarPlay as possible to continue building its ecosystem and giving additional advantages to joining the Apple family. Apple’s core business is its technology hardware and software that CarPlay would almost act as another marketing piece to be on Apple’s software. Making CarPlay exclusive to select vehicles wouldn’t go along with this business model and would force Apple to compete with established auto-brand loyalties from many drivers.
Apple doesn’t need to produce the tires or engine of a vehicle, it just needs people to use Apple software to interact with the car.
Who Wins with Advanced CarPlay?
Apple having CarPlay installed in millions of vehicles is a clear win for the company but it could also strongly benefit automotive companies that wouldn’t have to worry about software in their cars anymore. Dashboard designs are an expensive piece for many manufacturers that could be cut if they opted to use CarPlay instead. Also, frankly most user interfaces designed by automotive companies are lacking and there is a good reason why most people use Apple or Google Maps for navigation instead of whatever is installed in their vehicle. Apple will design a far cleaner experience than most offer, leaving the focus back on the physical production of cars.
In the bigger picture, the more important development from CarPlay could be increased data collection by Apple. Now the tech company could track where people go to and from without even needing users to have their phone on them. Average speed, time of driving, and styles of driving could be collected and used for many good (and bad) reasons.
Data collection is becoming increasingly scary to many people as these big companies know almost everything about its users and can use that against them. Without further regulation though, it will continue to be collected and be very profitable for big tech. This kind of data could be especially relevant to insurance companies looking to track driving trends and change quotes based on performance that is calculated and not just assumed by age, gender, location, and other variables.
Wrapping Up
Large updates to Apple CarPlay will further enhance the driving experience for millions of people that use Apple products while also possibly negating the need for any Apple Car in the future. It’s a potentially positive advancement in many ways that could even lead to increased safety and improved self-driving technology with advanced data collection. However, the technology could come at a cost that isn’t immediately seen in dollars and cents.
