Apple is in talks with automotive lidar suppliers, and its first car may use next-generation lidar technology

According to Bloomberg, people familiar with the matter revealed that Apple is negotiating with several autonomous driving lidar suppliers to apply the latest generation of lidar technology to its first Apple passenger car.

Apple believes that the LiDARs currently in mass production are too bulky and expensive to be used in mass-produced vehicles. LiDAR suppliers will be able to provide LiDAR sensors that are smaller, more affordable, and easier to mass-produce than current products. Apple's goal is a "revolutionary design" in the LiDAR sensor world that can be used in its future self-driving cars.

▲Apple's self-driving test car equipped with multiple lidars

The report also said that Apple has developed a lot of technology and software algorithms for self-driving cars, but Apple's internal sources said it would take at least five years before the car was released.

In recent months, "Apple's car-making project" has become the focus of attention of major industries. The increasing news about Apple cars seems to indicate that Apple's car project has advanced to a certain extent.

1. Apple has not yet finalized its cooperation with LiDAR companies

LiDAR sensors are commonly used in many self-driving cars and prototypes to determine the distance between the car and objects, people and other vehicles. However, Apple is no stranger to this technology, which has been used in other Apple products, including the LiDAR previously installed on the iPhone and iPad Pro.

According to people familiar with the matter, like Apple's other product line supply chains, Apple is constantly discussing with third-party suppliers to reach an agreement to produce key hardware required for its self-driving cars through third parties. The ongoing discussions in this revelation seem to indicate that Apple has not yet finalized the final LiDAR supplier and is even still considering the choice of LiDAR technology route.

Lidar companies are currently the hottest in the autonomous vehicle industry. In recent months, at least six lidar companies have gone public through backdoor listings. Many players committed to commercializing driverless cars, including Alphabet's Waymo and General Motors' Cruise, have adopted lidar technology. Lidar can make up for the shortcomings of sensors such as millimeter-wave radar and cameras in terms of perception. Therefore, at least in the short term, lidar is very necessary for achieving high-level autonomous driving.

▲Apple's self-driving test car

In a white paper submitted to the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in February 2019, Apple defined the working principle of its car perception system. At that time, it was mentioned: "The sensing part is ready to determine the position of the car on the earth and may determine and monitor surrounding objects, such as different cars, pedestrians and cyclists. This is achieved through a mixture of sensors such as lidar, radar and cameras, and provides high-resolution 360-degree 3D protection throughout the car."

Apple is said to have started similar talks with lidar manufacturers as early as 2019. However, since then, the company's car project has changed direction and scope. People familiar with the matter said that Apple is considering equipping its first passenger car with next-generation lidar technology, which is currently expected to be available in the next four to five years, which matches the current rumored launch time of five years later.

2. Apple’s car-making plan has been around for a long time, and there have been frequent reports recently.

In fact, Apple has been planning to build cars for a long time. Apple previously revealed a car project called "Project Titan" in 2014. In the past few years, internal conflicts and other problems have affected the car project. After Steve Zadesky, who was in charge of the project, resigned in 2016, the project was shelved. Subsequently, Apple invited back the retired former executive Bob Mansfield to lead the electric car team to continue to advance.

After Bob Mansfield took over the project in July 2016, he adjusted the project to focus more on the "foundational technology" of self-driving cars and less on actually building the cars.

As the project direction was adjusted, testing of autonomous driving technology began. Since early 2017, Apple has been using a Lexus RX450h SUV to test autonomous driving technology on public roads in California.

▲Apple’s previous self-driving test car

After a series of internal adjustments, Apple seems to be no longer satisfied with the research and development of autonomous driving technology, and the car-making plan has re-emerged. Apple held talks with electric car company Canoo in early 2020 to discuss options ranging from investment to acquisition. Canoo's greatest achievement is the development of a scalable modular electric vehicle platform. Although the negotiations eventually broke down, it obviously means that Apple has put the car-making project back on the agenda.

As the project continues to advance, news about Apple cars began to appear intensively at the end of 2020. As of the beginning of 2021, there have been countless news reports about Apple making cars. It seems that there is no such thing as a wall that is impenetrable, even for a company like Apple with strong supply chain control capabilities.

▲Summary of recent news about Apple Car

Previously, Apple planned to cooperate with Hyundai to produce Apple cars, and Hyundai transferred the development of Apple cars to the Kia brand. According to reports, Apple chose Hyundai Kia because it wanted to find an established automaker capable of producing cars in North America as a base, and Hyundai Kia was also willing to let Apple have full control over the software and hardware of the car.

The latest news is that Apple has suspended negotiations with Hyundai Group and has been discussing Apple's car plan with other automakers. It is unclear whether the negotiations between Apple and Hyundai Group will resume.

According to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple's initial car chassis may be based on Hyundai's E-GMP electric vehicle (BEV) platform, which uses up to two motors, a five-link rear suspension, an integrated drive axle, and can provide a range of more than 500 kilometers after a full charge, and can be charged to 80% in 18 minutes through high-speed charging. The high-performance model based on E-GMP is capable of accelerating from 0-60 miles per hour in less than 3.5 seconds and has a top speed of 160 miles per hour.

▲Modern E-GMP platform

After the cooperation between Apple and Hyundai "fell through", Nissan immediately had a "scandal" with Apple. According to reports, Apple had previously contacted Nissan about a potential partnership with Nissan, but due to disagreements on the details of the Apple car, the negotiations were terminated before they reached senior management. There are also reports that Apple approached Nissan in recent months to cooperate on its secret autonomous vehicle project, but the deal ended abruptly due to disagreements on brand ownership.

Nissan Chief Operating Officer Ashwani Gupta said: "We can work together, but it's about adapting their services to our products, not us serving them." Nissan has since confirmed that it is not negotiating with Apple.

Conclusion: Apple Car is still on paper, but once it is released, it may cause a bloody storm

Although the Apple car project is still in its early stages, its future cannot be underestimated. Apple is likely to surpass current car companies through the latest technological achievements in the future, causing a huge impact on the market. LiDAR is a very important component of future self-driving cars. Of course, before the Apple car is about to be released, Apple still needs a long time to seek cooperation with new supply chain partners.