Should Apple purchase Tesla? (1 Viewer)

[Ted Todorov]

Hate of BT is understandable (though I’m missing how playing a playlist is different from playing an Album — both work equally well) — fortunately even though Tesla’s handling of BT is noticeably better than elsewhere, they agree better options exist, thus Tesla announced recently that they would soon support AirPlay

 

[DaveF]

What does it mean to support AirPlay in a car? I think that still means the user is left mounting their iPhone onto the Tesla steering wheel?

 

[Ted Todorov]

What does it mean to support AirPlay in a car? I think that still means the user is left mounting their iPhone onto the Tesla steering wheel?

??? "left mounting their iPhone onto the Tesla steering wheel" -- I don't understand what you mean. Your iPhone either stays on the the charging pad or in your pocket, just like it would anywhere else to use AirPlay -- be it to connect to your AirPods or HomePods or AppleTV or ...

 

[Ted Todorov]

Sam: Since you want to get a truck -- have you considered the Rivian vs the F-150 Lightning? The Rivian does have some advantages from what I've seen - one is separate motors for each of the four wheels:

Another is a much greater chance to get one, at MSRP, sooner rather than later, like this year:

 

[DaveF]

??? "left mounting their iPhone onto the Tesla steering wheel" -- I don't understand what you mean. Your iPhone either stays on the the charging pad or in your pocket, just like it would anywhere else to use AirPlay -- be it to connect to your AirPods or HomePods or AppleTV or ...

I see Tesla owners mounting smartphones on the steering wheel back, akin to how I, with a dumb car, have a vent mount for my iPhone to use its maps and music app and etc.

 

[Edwin-S]

Should Apple buy Tesla? Only if a person wants to pay 10000 more for an already expensive car because the name Apple is added to the logo.

 

[DaveF]

If you can make a riff about M$, then we'll totally be in the '90s with its played out snark.

 

[Ted Todorov]

I see Tesla owners mounting smartphones on the steering wheel back, akin to how I, with a dumb car, have a vent mount for my iPhone to use its maps and music app and etc.

I've never seen such a thing - everybody I know just uses the charger pad, which is as the front of the center column, underneath the display screen.

Here a pic from our Tesla:

We are listening to the Mondo Jazz podcast via the Overcast app -- as you can see the cover image and all the info ends up on Tesla's screen and of course the audio goes through the speaker system. The iPhone is being charged (if you zoom in, you can see that from its battery) -- the reason my wife's iPhone isn't on the charger next to it is it was used to take this pic. The idea of wanting to attach your phone to the steering wheel or anywhere else when the car comes with this perfect stop for two smartphones is beyond me.

 

[Ted Todorov]

Apple remains really smart to have nothing to do with Tesla. Any good will I have had for the company or Musk has evaporated with his twitter purchase foolishness. And all the more glad I’m headed to an F150 Lightning. Will I change my mind in a few years? Perhaps. But I’d bet against it today.

While many people are not Musk fans (to put it mildly) there are many reasons to choose (or not) a given EV maker — and most have little to do with the extracurricular activities of the CEO. Here is one — are they made (not just assembled) in the USA — from Cars.com https://www.cars.com/american-made-index/

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

While many people are not Musk fans (to put it mildly) there are many reasons to choose (or not) a given EV maker — and most have little to do with the extracurricular activities of the CEO. Here is one — are they made (not just assembled) in the USA — from Cars.com https://www.cars.com/american-made-index/

I'm not a car guy (as I don't actually even drive at all... though I have some passing interest nonetheless), but interesting to see Honda, instead of Toyota, if any Japanese maker at all, dominating the rest of the top 10 on that list ahead of all the Fords (and Chevies, et al), unless one counts the lone Lincoln.

Problem w/ American-made vehicles for much of the past was they (mostly) just weren't that competitive, particularly if you want something reliable, NVM fuel-efficient -- I'm not talking trucks nor certain relatively specialty categories of course.

My extended family circle, et al mainly went w/ Toyota (and then the usual German luxury-ish ones) though my father-in-law chose Saturn as a good compromise back in the 90's and early 2000's (as did we for our 1st new car) while they were still in business. My in-laws later replaced their old Saturn w/ a Ford Escort that eventually became our son's 1st car for college use. Meanwhile, we switched to a Sienna for minivan before ending up w/ Subaru -- the wife loves their in-their-own-class 4-wheel drive, and the Outback struck a good compromise in all other aspects for us...

_Man_

 

[Ted Todorov]

On the Honda vs Toyota, it just means that Honda has a better American factory than Toyota and uses more American made parts. It does not mean that Honda is beating Toyota in the US car market

I put this up, to point out that Tesla is the *only* American car company that manufactures *all* its cars in America with American parts unlike the overwhelming majority of cars from GM, Ford or Chrysler

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Oh, I understood what you were getting at. I was just a little surprised that Honda dominated the rest of that top 10... but then again, I'm definitely not that up-to-date on motor vehicles (and their industry) of course.

Maybe I'll go for a Tesla some day if/whenever I actually move away from NYC and then definitely need a car of my own (and maybe also feel comfy enough about the maturing self-driving tech by then)... It certainly would be nice to have for leisurely roadtrips in my retirement years -- I'm sorta already in early/semi-retirement, but various factors (still) tie me down to NYC for the foreseeable future (of probably next 10-plus years)...

_Man_

 

[Ted Todorov]

I’m in NYC too, which is why until the Tesla in 2020 we have never had a car. But the combination of my mom being paranoid re COVID risks by taking public transportation to visit her in Princeton, and car rentals being completely unaffordable, led to our Tesla. Now that we are hooked, it would be very, very hard to give it up. Stuff like controlling it from the iPhone app, having it at exactly the right temperature at the height of summer or winter, “dog mode”, etc. are all treats that never stop making me happy.

The existing Autopilot/FSD including auto lane change is a godsend for highway driving, Summon for getting it out of my mom’s 1950’s garage, Autopark for parallel parking. And yes, of course just as with Apple we also look forward to software updates, If one day I can have it pick me up at the train station, it will be another tech miracle, but even if it never happens it is above and beyond any explanation I had of a car.

 

[Ted Todorov]

So "Project Titan" is officially over.

That doesn't mean Apple should have bought Tesla while they had the chance (~2018), but it does offer proof that after a decade of trying Apple never came close to producing a car Apple execs considered worth attempting to sell.

 

[DaveF]

The thing about cars is they’re all about manufacturing. And Apple isn’t actually a manufacturing company.

 

[Ted Todorov]

The thing about cars is they’re all about manufacturing. And Apple isn’t actually a manufacturing company.

I totally agree, but you'd think it shouldn't take them 10 years to figure it out

 

[Clinton McClure]

I’m not sure which is worse: “autonomous” cars that don’t work or generative “AI” (read: machine learning) that doesn’t work.

 

[Ted Todorov]

I’m not sure which is worse: “autonomous” cars that don’t work or generative “AI” (read: machine learning) that doesn’t work.

True, but they are both the goal -- for good reasons. In the case of autonomous cars:

40,000 people are killed, 2 million are injured annually in car accidents in the United States alone. These are completely intolerable numbers, and while the cars/trucks themselves can be blamed for some of them the vast majority are due to bad human driving - falling asleep at the wheel, texting while driving, drunk driving or simply making human mistakes. All of these deaths and injures can be reduced by orders of magnitude if we get to functional autonomous cars.

I have no opinion on whether we are 2-3 years away or 5 or 10 or 20 years away, but we need keep trying.

My own, purely anecdotal view on where we are now: driving 90% of the time using Tesla's "Enhanced Autopilot" makes me a vastly safer driver.

The car is always lane centered, lanes are changed with no risk of missing the blind spot, the car immediately reacts to slow/stopped traffic ahead or someone drifting into the lane. At non highway settings it recognizes pedestrians, bikes etc and reacts to them being ahead. In terms of driver attention (i.e. no texting, no falling asleep) the car reacts by visually and audibly warning you if the internal camera catches you not looking at the road for any lengths of time.

Will we reach the point where the driver becomes just a passenger and no longer needs to pay attention and if so, when? That I have no idea - but we have no choice but to keep trying unless we are willing to continue with the current numbers in annual deaths and injuries which I am not.

 

[Clinton McClure]

I have no opinion on whether we are 2-3 years away or 5 or 10 or 20 years away, but we need keep trying.

We are perpetually 20 years away.

 

[JayDomK]

True, but they are both the goal -- for good reasons. In the case of autonomous cars:

40,000 people are killed, 2 million are injured annually in car accidents in the United States alone. These are completely intolerable numbers, and while the cars/trucks themselves can be blamed for some of them the vast majority are due to bad human driving - falling asleep at the wheel, texting while driving, drunk driving or simply making human mistakes. All of these deaths and injures can be reduced by orders of magnitude if we get to functional autonomous cars.

I have no opinion on whether we are 2-3 years away or 5 or 10 or 20 years away, but we need keep trying.

My own, purely anecdotal view on where we are now: driving 90% of the time using Tesla's "Enhanced Autopilot" makes me a vastly safer driver.

The car is always lane centered, lanes are changed with no risk of missing the blind spot, the car immediately reacts to slow/stopped traffic ahead or someone drifting into the lane. At non highway settings it recognizes pedestrians, bikes etc and reacts to them being ahead. In terms of driver attention (i.e. no texting, no falling asleep) the car reacts by visually and audibly warning you if the internal camera catches you not looking at the road for any lengths of time.

Will we reach the point where the driver becomes just a passenger and no longer needs to pay attention and if so, when? That I have no idea - but we have no choice but to keep trying unless we are willing to continue with the current numbers in annual deaths and injuries which I am not.

My belief is that one day drivers will just be passengers. And it will happen sooner than it seems.