Cars are essentially turning smarter and smarter as the days go by. It’s not an exaggeration that cars are literally turning into computers with wheels; with electrification, technology and self driving among some of the key functionalities that all automotive makers are putting into their latest models. 

With this transition, it’s no surprise to see that more and more traditionally tech-based companies want a piece of the automotive pie. After all, the automotive market is worth a cool $5 trillion; a hefty amount by any standards. With this tech-based push, there are profound implications for what future cars will be capable of, especially how the global automotive industry will be made unrecognizable to us today.

Tesla has been instrumental in pushing the auto industry in a new direction. Since the first Model S, Tesla pioneered replacing hundreds of small computers with a handful of bigger, more powerful ones. This is why Tesla can add new capabilities to its vehicles through over-the-air updates. 

In fact, Tesla is able to provide better acceleration, longer range, an enhanced self-driving system, or even have your in-dash entertainment system play whatever you want. Tesla has shown they’re just a software upgrade away. It’s very much like the model of continual updates to the software in our mobile devices we’ve come to expect.

At the forefront of this transition is Apple, famously known for a little thing called the iPhone. While no one inside Apple is saying exactly what its plans are, the company has been contemplating a role in the automotive industry for years. In fact, they have spent huge in hiring engineers with similar skill sets, as they drive towards a car-based future. 

In a further step forward, Apple has also approached carmakers like Hyundai about a potential manufacturing partnership. The potential partnership didn’t end up anywhere, but it’s just as likely Apple is, as usual, experimenting until or unless it hits on something it thinks it can do better than anyone else.

The future could see Apple build an operating system for a whole vehicle, and run it on its own silicon. But the company seeks to vertically integrate whenever possible, to control every aspect of the user experience. If there is any tech company on earth with the resources to go it alone, building a new automaker from the ground up, it’s Apple. But there is no indication this is the company’s aim.

If there is any tech company on earth with the resources to go it alone, building a new automaker from the ground up, it’s Apple. But there is no indication this is the company’s aim. If Tesla is the model here, it’s unclear why Apple’s executives would want to endure the tortuous process of building the manufacturing, testing and service capacities this path would require.

As the automotive industry inches toward self-driving taxi services, Apple’s persistence in both acquiring and developing software and hardware for electric, autonomous vehicles could signal its long-term ambitions. Could an Apple mobility company, instead of an Apple car, make the most sense?

Apple could design and commission vehicles that bear their branding, and operate as part of a service they provide. Apple, after all, isn’t an electronics manufacturer. Rather, Apple is first and foremost a customer-focused company that uses technical know-how to develop products physically. It just happens that deep technical expertise is how it realizes its leaders’ visions. 

Apple already has its CarPlay in-dash interface for iPhones. However, it’s limited to functions like entertainment and navigation, and has nothing to do with the deeper integration and capabilities required of a true vehicle operating system. Still, Apple has also demonstrated tremendous capabilities in designing the kinds of microchips and sensors that a smart automobile would require, though for now they’re mainly found in iPhones, iPads and Macs. This expertise can help with its overarching goal of creating a car on their own operating system. 

This is where Apple might face a tough decision. While it has the chance to flex its software and chip-making expertise to create a next-generation platform for the highest bidder, the company tends to create products for its own brand, not components for others. Plus, with the foray into autonomous driving is turning out to be much harder than anyone predicted, and Apple could have the time it would need to develop its own service.

Apple isn’t the only tech company making inroads into the automotive industry. Many other tech companies, including Intel, Nvidia, Huawei, Baidu, Amazon and Google parent Alphabet, are pushing into the conservative and relatively low-margin world of automobiles and their parts. 

Meanwhile, traditional automakers like Ford, General Motors, Toyota, Daimler and Volkswagen, plus longtime automotive suppliers such as Bosch, ZF and Magna, are trying to behave more like those tech companies. Basically, everyone is shifting their emphasis to software. Volkswagen, for example, announced that it would add 2,000 to its technical development team; the company already employs thousands of software engineers.

It’s quite possible that Apple will end up spending billions on attempts to develop an electric car without ever releasing a product. It’s also possible that transportation is so different in scope and complexity from personal and mobile computing that the only way to succeed is through the kind of grand-scale collaboration Apple isn’t known for.

Whatever the future brings for Apple, we can be sure that the future of tech-based cars will always be here to stay. Their foray may see an all-new product, or may simply fizzle out. But leave it to Apple to bring about a trillion-dollar revolution, something that they’re already familiar with.

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