Elon Musk Still ‘Aspires To Make Compelling EVs’ And Welcomes Fierce Competition From Apple’s Mythical Autonomous Car
Elon Musk is fully aware that Apple's working on an electric vehicle of its own. The Cupterino outfit hasn't announced anything of the sort, but as far as Musk is concerned, it's pretty much an "open secret" based on the talent Apple has hired and other leaked information. And you know what? He welcomes the rivalry, if there ends up being one.
There's already some drama that's taken place between Tesla and Apple. Back in October, Musk took a jab at Apple's hiring spree of former Tesla employees.
"Important engineers? They have hired people we've fired," Musk told Handelsblatt, a German publication. "We always jokingly call Apple the 'Tesla Graveyard.' If you don't make it at Tesla, you go work at Apple. I'm not kidding."
A few days later, Musk backtracked a bit and stated on Twitter, "Yo, I don't hate Apple It's a great company with a lot of talented people. I love their products and I'm glad they're doing an EV."
That sentiment stands. In the wake of Apple registering a bunch of domains related to automobiles -- Apple.car and Apple.auto, for example -- Musk said of Apple's presence that "it will expand the industry."
"Tesla will still aspire to make the most compelling electric vehicles, and that would be our goal, while at the same time helping other companies to make electric cars as well," Musk added.
Musk's ultimate goal is an autonomous EV, one that would park itself and come pick you up as needed. It's very much a sci-fi vision, though one that's not completely far fetched -- today's technologies offer early, if not rudimentary examples of such a future. And with so many car makers working on these types of technologies, it's only a matter of time before such a future is realized.
There's already some drama that's taken place between Tesla and Apple. Back in October, Musk took a jab at Apple's hiring spree of former Tesla employees.
"Important engineers? They have hired people we've fired," Musk told Handelsblatt, a German publication. "We always jokingly call Apple the 'Tesla Graveyard.' If you don't make it at Tesla, you go work at Apple. I'm not kidding."
A few days later, Musk backtracked a bit and stated on Twitter, "Yo, I don't hate Apple It's a great company with a lot of talented people. I love their products and I'm glad they're doing an EV."
That sentiment stands. In the wake of Apple registering a bunch of domains related to automobiles -- Apple.car and Apple.auto, for example -- Musk said of Apple's presence that "it will expand the industry."
"Tesla will still aspire to make the most compelling electric vehicles, and that would be our goal, while at the same time helping other companies to make electric cars as well," Musk added.
Musk's ultimate goal is an autonomous EV, one that would park itself and come pick you up as needed. It's very much a sci-fi vision, though one that's not completely far fetched -- today's technologies offer early, if not rudimentary examples of such a future. And with so many car makers working on these types of technologies, it's only a matter of time before such a future is realized.
