VW’s T6 may be Apple Car’s ROKR

Thoughts on Apple Car, Part 109

Both Apple and Volkswagen made headlines this week when they announced a collaboration for Apple’s inter-campus selfdriving bus system called PAIL.

Apple, Spurned by Others, Signs Deal With Volkswagen for Driverless Cars

The deal gives Apple an inside view into the current state of the car industry, and a way to test not only technology variants of its autonomous platform, but also its user experience and interior design. Apple employees will form as a test group that provides feedback about real life scenarios.

History repeating

Apple made a similar move in the iPod era. Before it made the iPhone by itself, Apple agreed to bring iTunes and iPod capabilities to the Motorola ROKR, then one of the best selling feature phones.

It gave Apple access not only the key people of the industry and all its different contributing parties, but also its ability to understand the technology and distribution aspects of a mobile phone company.

»We hated our phones ever such a lot.«

Volkswagen is the top-selling car maker in the world right now. Many argue that after the diesel scandal, management was probably open to friendlier terms for a future-facing partnership with Apple than it would have been otherwise.

VW is not a bad place to start, either. The Volkswagen group is home to many car brands that Apple has been poaching talent and ideas from.

Members of the Apple ID team have been at Audi, former VW managers jumped on and off Project Titan, and Porsche gave inspiration for a possible Apple Car premium business model with their subscription service.

Now it seems Apple is ready to move beyond talent, and go into public partnerships.

Where VW stands at the moment

It’s an interesting time for an carmaker, but especially for VW. They feel the pressure of the monumental shift of the industry the most, as they have both feet in both areas. With their old business they make tons money in the most important markets of the world (50% of it in China), but clearly see that their product is not widely accepted anymore and will face more and more public and legislative headwinds.

On the other hand, their future business has not touched base so far. They’re not really a player in the emerging car sharing services of the Western World that are dominated by their German arch rivals BMW and Daimler. Both have innovated with DriveNow and car2go, respectively, and are now looking into merging those businesses.

So VW is looking for a roadmap. And they look at Apple:

VW wants to copy Apple Car before it’s here

To make this happen, VW has a lot of theoretical concepts under wraps. They had generations of designers who were thinking ahead (and now moved on).

But still, the direction should be clear:

»The entire space inside of the car will definitely look completely different.«

So it makes sense for VW to go with Apple and hope for a better future.

Where Apple stands at the moment

The PAIL system is interesting: It gives Apple the ability to test selfdriving vehicles in a semi-public way. Apple will not find a test scenario they’re more comfortable with. We can expect them to dedicate more and more vehicles to the program.

In terms of testing vehicles overall, Apple is already the second-largest testing operator in California after GM, by number of registered vehicles.

So far, all of them have been Lexus models. Now Apple adds VWs.

I believe both serve different needs.

While the Lexus cars are for mapping and training the autonomous platform on private and public roads, and are therefore mostly data-driven; the VW/PAIL program is about the design and user experience on semi-public roads and with internal users only.

It’s a sign that Apple is not satisfied with doing the software platform, but also the hardware design:

Apple Car: NYT, PAIL, and DF

That’s why they also change manufacturers: A Lexus SUV does not offer the amount of space in the interior as a VW minubus does.

The T6 falls in line with a long standing tradition of spacious cars with comfortable height. Its popularity dates back to the sixties (my dad has one), and VW played with renewing it almost every decade.

VW’s long overdue ‘Sedric’ concept is still just a concept

Recently, Volkswagen launched its MOIA subsidiary, also working with an electric van based on the T6.

The T6 will give Apple enough room to think about interior design and experiment. It will present the opportunity one of their ID team members once summarized:

»Win back space«

Eventually, the interior will guide the way to a reworked exterior.

»Hardly any real innovation of the object itself«

And the T6 will serve as the perfect cover. Just as the „failed“ ROKR did for the iPhone.