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Apple Signs Deal With Volkswagen For Driverless Cars (nytimes.com)
Apple has reportedly signed a deal with Volkswagen (Warning: source may be paywalled; alternative source) to turn some of the carmaker's new T6 Transporter vans into Apple's self-driving shuttles for employees. The deal comes after the tech giant failed to partner with luxury carmakers BMW and Mercedes-Benz to develop an all-electric self-driving car. "[T]talks with those companies have ended after each rebuffed Apple's requirements to hand over control of the data and design," reports The New York Times. From the report: Apple's deal with Volkswagen, which hasn't been previously reported, and the failure of its talks with other automakers reflect the continuing travails and diminished scope of the company's four-year-old car program. The project has suffered from repeated changes in direction that have hurt morale and led to hundreds of departures from its peak of more than 1,000 members two years ago, five former Apple employees said. They added that the team was now mostly consumed with developing the self-driving shuttle but the project lacks a clear plan beyond the vans.
The "dieselgate" scandal was (and in some way still is) a huge thing for VW; it really hurt them financially and reputation-wise.
(Somehow the other car manufacturers - who all gamed the system but in a somewhat less blatantly criminal fashion - managed to escape).
Since everyone else has given a stout "fuck off" to Apple, and their own vehicle development program is in the tank, then this leaves this unlikely alliance of the "weak", (note: both companies have enormous capabilities & resources, and lots of cash).
However, both companies also have strong, and strongly-different, cultures, big egos in management and complex behind-the-scenes politics; this won't go anywhere....
Would you climb into a self-driving car that's programmed by a company that cheated with their programming on EPA standards to make more money? I wouldn't either...
Unlike BMW and Mercedes, VW is willing to take a bath on the draconian contract terms that Apple is clearly expecting any partner on this project to take. And they're hoping that Apple can give them back the tech cachet they need.