On June 20th, Apple announced on its official website that it is currently recruiting automotive software engineers in Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen. It is understood that the main responsibility of this position is to assist cooperation companies in providing integrated support and to assist developers in system certification.
At the previous WWDC conference, Apple fully demonstrated the advantages of CarPlay. The list of releases shows that heavyweight car companies such as Audi, Land Rover, Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, and Infiniti are included. This news has aroused public attention, and many people believe that Apple will shift from car production to software cooperation. The recruitment of automotive software engineers seems to have solidified this view.
In fact, Apple’s coveting of the smart car market has not happened overnight, but it has always been a zigzag. In March of this year, Apple’s automotive team, which had been working on car production for eight years, was reported to have disbanded by Guo Mingchi, an analyst at Tianfeng Securities. The news shocked the public. According to analysts at Morgan Stanley, Katy Huberty estimated that Apple’s investment in automotive research and development has reached nearly US$19 billion, even exceeding the R&D expenditures of the Volkswagen Group, which is 13.89 billion.
Now, it seems that Apple is really shifting towards software development rather than hardware.
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.