“Apple Car Model is similar to Tesla” – Insights on Project Titan & Self Driving Cars.
2 min read
“Apple Car model is similar to Tesla” flashing in a news report caught my attention, as Steve Jobs’ quote – “Good artists copy, but, Great artists steal.. and we at Apple are shameless about stealing great ideas” echoed in the subconscious.
Code named: ‘Project Titan’
• Early 2019 : Apple onboarded Dr. Michael Schwekutsch, Tesla’s former VP of engineering, whose exclusive role at Elon’s EV crusade was, to design & build electric powertrains.
In fact, Dr. Michael has a reputation of being among the most experienced electric powertrain designers in the industry. Before joining Tesla he designed electric & hybrid powertrains for everything, from the BMW i8 to the Porsche Spyder!
• Dec 2020: For manufacturing this “self driving car chip” , Apple reportedly roped in TSMC (who also happens work with Tesla on HW4.0 self-driving chip, to be mass produced Apr’21).
Some interesting facts about TSMC:
- Makes up ~75% of Taiex (Market index, Taiwan)
- Makes nearly ~52% of ALL semiconductor chips in devices (world’s largest manufacturer)
- Stock is up over $80 Bn in valuation since March 2020 – equal to swallowing a Goldman Sachs whole.
• Interestingly, after the recent exit of the Ferrari CEO, a frontrunner for his successor as the next CEO of Ferrari is the ex Design Chief of Apple who worked directly with Steve Jobs on the 1st iPhone – Jony Ive!
Tesla currently with global market share of 1% , has market cap (~$590 Bn) equal to total of Toyota, Volkswagen (VW, Audi, Porsche), Daimler, GM, BMW, Honda, Ford combined!
Though we may only be able to ‘connect the dots looking backward‘ in these thunderous times ahead for EV and SDVs.. what are your thoughts on opportunities that Indian entrepreneurs could capitalize on, in this fast-paced innovative industrial evolution?
