Apple's Car: A Better Ford or A Category Breaker?

Reports are surfacing that Apple is working on an automotive project. What might that mean for the car of the future?

Much has to do with which Apple shows up on this project. Will it be the Apple of late? The one that tweaks what already is to make it better? Or is this an opportunity for Apple to bring its traditional magic to a category sorely in need of innovative thinking?

Tweaking what already exists will no doubt bring some cool technologies, features and connectivity to cars. Of course, it would include Apple CarPlay, and synch with your other Apple devices via iCloud. Yes, software upgrades would replace some routine maintenance. Surely your iPhone or Apple Watch would render smart keys redundant. Of course, you would be able to monitor and control your car's functions remotely. Wouldn't it be great to wake up to a snowstorm and pre warm your car as you sip your coffee in front of your fireplace? And why not integrate Apple Pay, so that all your tolls, gas and drive through payments are handled by your car?

All of this would be very easy for Apple to do, and they would do it better than anyone else has yet to do. They'd be building a much better Ford or Toyota.

But what if Apple really behaved like Apple in making a car? What might they do differently to change the automotive rules? Some might argue that Elon Musk is already doing this; or that Google has a head start and Apple is too late. 

Certainly, Tesla has brought huge innovation to automotive power trains and retailing. Google's driverless car shows promise.

But the thing that Apple does better than anyone else is total disruption of form and function: integrating hardware and software to create beautifully functional designs that offer seamless ease of use.

So if Apple draws upon its heritage to make a car, what could it look like? What might happen by really 'thinking different'? By completely disruption form and function?

Let's go back to the birth of the automobile. It was called a 'horseless carriage' for very good reason. Automotive pioneers took the basic design and configuration of the carriage...four wheels,  forward facing seats, a driver's station, and 2 headlamps and replaced the horse in the front with an engine in the front. 

Today, almost all cars, trucks, and SUV's , even Tesla still use that same basic design and configuration. And, as revolutionary as the technology in Google's driverless car might be, it's really just developing new guts for the same animal. That is why they are able to test their technology using a Prius body.

Some manufacturers, like Nissan have explored alternative design, most notably with its Bladeglider concept. But as unconventional as this concept is, the cockpit layout harkens back to more traditional driver interface.

But, as Steve Jobs once said, 'Design is not just what it looks like, design is how it works.' And Apple as category breaker ignores all preconceived notions to deliver new forms that are designed with the sole purpose of enhancing functionality and user experience. 
From the first iMac to the iPhone and iPad, Apple has pioneered new, more user friendly forms. The iMac was not just cool and colorful, but simple to set up and use. Its shape was as functional as it was interesting, as it enhanced usability. The first iPhone's design was as functional as it was sleek...transforming the complicated, clunky smartphone into an indispensable object of desire.

Similarly, the first thing category breaker Apple would be likely to do is to rethink the car experience from the inside out, and then build the right design to enable that experience. And, in doing so, would interrogate every aspect of the automotive experience:

• What's missing from the current experience? What's unnecessary?
• What is the most intuitive and simple way to control a vehicle? Does it really need a steering wheel and pedals, or can all this be accomplished through gestures or verbal commands, like an iPhone or iPad?
• What is the role of infotainment? Should each occupant be able to choose their own content? Can iTunes be evolved to enable this?
• Do we need a 'driver's seat', or can the car be controlled from any position within the car? Can this control be seamlessly handed off between occupants without getting out of the car, just like Handoff works across devices?
• Must the layout be fixed, or should it be customizable depending on your personal needs like your iPhone screen?  Could you reconfigure the interior from another device during the synching process?

This list would likely go on and on, leaving no detail of the experience unturned. And of course, the answer to every question would inform the overall design and shape. And in the end, we might actually see the first true re-invention of the automobile in over 100 years.

Let's hope that's the Apple that decides to shows up.