On January 10, according to media reports, Hyundai Motor and Apple plan to sign a cooperation agreement on electrified self-driving cars in March this year, and is expected to start production in the United States as early as 2024, and the beta version may be in Released in 2022.

Among them, industry sources revealed that Apple and Hyundai plan to produce new cars at the Kia Motors (Hyundai subsidiary) Georgia plant, or jointly invest in the construction of a new factory in the United States. The production capacity is 400,000 vehicles.

Market analysts told the 21st Century Business Herald reporter, “The main point of cooperation between the two sides is expected to fall on vehicle manufacturing. In terms of autonomous driving, Apple has technology and patent reserves. Hyundai Motor’s global production capacity layout is relatively complete, and its production capacity is relatively complete. The vacancy rate is also relatively high, so it’s just right to help Apple build the vehicle.”

In response, Hyundai Motor previously issued a statement saying it was in early negotiations with Apple. Later, Hyundai Motor updated a statement to delete the name “Apple” and said, “We have been receiving cooperation requests from different companies to develop self-driving electric vehicles, but discussions are still in the initial stages and have not yet been Make a decision.”

Apple’s recent moves to build cars are frequent, not without reason. In the past 2020, the global smart electric vehicle industry ushered in a concentrated outbreak.

Tesla’s stock price has soared more than sevenfold during the year, with a market value of more than $600 billion, making Musk the world’s richest man. Four new energy vehicles, including Nikola, Fisker, Lordstown Motors and Canoo, have been listed on the Nasdaq successively, and the domestic “three brothers” of Weilai, Xiaopeng and Ideal Auto have also experienced a surge in market value.

Apple’s car-making has to catch up with this wave.

The earliest news about Apple’s car manufacturing dates back to 2014, and Apple CEO Cook first talked about the topic of automobiles in an interview in 2015, saying that “the electric vehicle industry is at a critical point of great change.”

At that time, it was rumored that a car-building project code-named “Project Titan” was launched. Since then, Apple has repeatedly poached people from Tesla and other companies, and then it has been reported that Apple has internal disagreements on the role of self-made cars or technology suppliers.

According to public information, in April 2017, Apple has obtained a California DMV (Department of Vehicles) license to test autonomous vehicles on public roads, and plans to use three Lexus RX450h SUV models.

Recently, Apple has issued stocking orders to Taiwanese auto parts factories including Heda, Bizlink, Heqin, Tomita, etc., and listed them in the first wave of supply in accordance with the practice of urging iPhone stocking from components. chain list. And, Apple is working with TSMC to develop chips for self-driving cars and explore the possibility of building a factory in the United States.

In fact, from international to domestic, both traditional car companies and Internet giants are accelerating their entry into the “driverless” track. Google Alphabet’s Waymo, or Uber, Toyota, Lyft, GM, Baidu, Volvo, and Honda.

Many players are also rapidly maturing the smart electric vehicle market. Technically, new energy vehicles are more mature in terms of cruising range and autonomous driving, and consumers are increasingly accepting new energy vehicles, providing opportunities for Apple to build cars.

In addition, as of press time, Apple has not officially released relevant information about the car.