Skip to main content

Apple CEO says ‘massive change’ is coming to auto industry

Apple CEO Tim Cook has given the latest sign that the iPhone maker is planning an assault on the car industry, saying there is a ‘massive change’ in the market, according to the Telegraph. Speaking at the Wall Street Journal's WSJDLive conference this week, Cook talked of the growing importance of software in the car of the future, the rise of autonomous vehicles and the shift from an internal combustion engine to electrification. "It would seem like there will be massive change in that industry, mass
October 21, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
493 Apple CEO Tim Cook has given the latest sign that the iPhone maker is planning an assault on the car industry, saying there is a ‘massive change’ in the market, according to the Telegraph.

Speaking at the Wall Street Journal's WSJDLive conference this week, Cook talked of the growing importance of software in the car of the future, the rise of autonomous vehicles and the shift from an internal combustion engine to electrification.

"It would seem like there will be massive change in that industry, massive change," he said. "You may not agree with that. That's what I think.

"When I look at the automobile, what I see is that software becomes an increasingly important part of the car of the future. You see that autonomous driving becomes much more important."

He declined to respond to published reports that Apple is developing an electric car that might hit the road as soon as 2019. Cook said that, in the short term, Apple is working to bring the ‘iPhone experience’ to the vehicle through CarPlay, its in-dash system that creates a way for users to access their iTunes music collections or get driving directions from its mapping software without touching their phones.

"We’ll see what we do in the future," he said. "I do think that the industry is at an inflection point for massive change."

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Autonomous vehicles – saviour and threat, says report
    November 1, 2016
    A new report from IDTechEx Research notes that autonomous vehicles need no pilot, not even one in reserve. Many truly autonomous vehicles are unmanned mobile robots prowling everywhere from the ocean depths to nuclear power stations, the upper atmosphere and outer space. They create billion dollar businesses such as aircraft and airships aloft for five to ten years on sunshine alone carrying out surveillance or beaming the internet to the 4.5 billion people who lack it. Independence of energy and electri
  • MobilityXX: ‘Women pay more for safe transport’
    October 8, 2021
    Laura Chace, new boss of ITS America, is fully behind the MobilityXX initiative, which promotes the role of women in transportation. She tells Adam Hill why the ’10 by 10’ target is so important…
  • Software is at heart of safe vehicle connectivity, says Qt Group
    September 15, 2023
    Connected vehicle safety isn’t just under threat from malicious actors exploiting code – it’s also about avoiding software faults that could result in harm to people, says Patrick Shelly of Qt Group
  • IBTTA: industry must commit to trust and accountability
    August 23, 2018
    Without a commitment to trust and accountability, the modern road tolling industry would not have the bedrock which it requires – and which customers demand, says IBTTA’s Bill Cramer When Tim Stewart, executive director of Colorado’s E-470 Public Highway Authority, settled on ‘trust and accountability’ as the themes for his year as IBTTA president, it was a very deliberate choice. Stewart was looking for language that would help deliver the global tolling industry’s message of service excellence to cust