Category: Apple

By REED STEVENSON AND MARK GURMAN

At first glance, the forays Apple Inc., Google and other technology giants are making into the world of cars don’t appear to be particularly lucrative.

Building automobiles requires factories, equipment and an army of people to design and assemble large hunks of steel, plastic and glass. That all but guarantees slimmer profits. The world’s top 10 carmakers had an operating margin of just 5.2% in 2020, a fraction of the 34% enjoyed by the tech industry’s leaders, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

But for Apple and other behemoths that are diving into self-driving tech or have grand plans for their own cars, that push isn’t just about breaking into a new market — it’s about defending valuable turf.

“Why are tech companies pushing into autonomous driving? Because they can, and because they have to,” said Chris Gerdes, co-director of the Center for Automotive Research at Stanford University. “There are business models that people aren’t aware of.”

A market projected to top $2 trillion by 2030 is hard to ignore. By then, more than 58 million vehicles globally are expected to be driving themselves. And Big Tech has the means — from artificial intelligence and massive data, to chipmaking and engineering — to disrupt this century-old industry.

BY ROB STUMPF

AUTOMATION IS PIVOTAL TO AN APPLE-BRANDED CAR EVER HAPPENING, LET ALONE SUCCEEDING.

It’s been a few weeks since we talked about the never-ending rumor regarding Apple and its supposedly upcoming autonomous car. Until recently, hearsay on the matter suggested that the tech giant may have considered partnering with Hyundai or Kia to build the vehicle, and despite its earlier position on the matter, Hyundai later reneged saying that it wasn’t in talks with Apple, period.

So what are the newest haps with Apple’s reported automotive endeavor? To touch on that, Apple CEO Tim Cook recently sat down with Kara Swisher on the New York Times‘ Sway podcast where he briefly discussed his opinions on the core fundamentals of vehicle autonomy and Apple’s future in the car industry. 

It became crystal clear that if Apple was to develop a vehicle, the focus would be on autonomy and driver assistance functions rather than building yet another car for consumers to buy. After all, pivoting from an electronics manufacturer to an automaker is a big leap—why take that on unless there’s a software offering that makes the vehicle more attractive than a tried and true option already on the road?

by Bob Yirka

A team of researchers at Stanford University has found that the Apple Watch in association with an iPhone can be used to monitor frailty in cardiovascular disease (CVD) patients. The project group, which was funded by Apple, has posted a paper describing experiments they conducted with the Apple Watc on the open-access site PLOS ONE.

People with CVD often lose physical abilitiesbecause the heart is unable to keep up with increased demands. Thus, many such patients develop frailty, which is defined in this case as an inability to walk distances greater than 300 meters in six minutes. The test has been named the six-minute walk test (6MWT) and is used as a standard means of assessing the health of CVD patients—it is generally conducted in a clinical setting. In this new effort, the team at Stanford has assessed the capabilities of an Apple Watch app they developed called VascTrac that has been designed to conduct the 6MWT on CVD patients.

The team tested the app and device by enlisting the assistance of 111 CVD patients. Each was given an iPhone and Apple Watch running the VascTrac. The volunteers were then asked to test the app by attempting to walk for six minutes—both at home and in a clinical setting.

The researchers found the system could assess the frailty of the volunteers in the clinical setting with a sensitivity of 90% and specificity of 85%. At home, the numbers were 83% and 60%. The researchers say that their 6MWT system was able to provide clinically useful information for patients regarding their health in a home environment. They also note that their system could be particularly useful during emergency situations, such as a pandemic, when many CVD patients are afraid to visit a doctor’s office. They also note that their experiments were conducted over many months in 2018 and 2019. Apple has since added the VascTrac abilities to the WatchOS, which means users of new Apple Watches can take advantage of the capabilities without having to download an app.

By Debby Wu

• Taiwanese company joins forces with Chinese carmaker Geely
• Venture to offer production, advisory services to automakers

Apple Inc.’s Taiwanese manufacturing partner Foxconn Technology Group is setting up a car venture, strengthening its automotive capabilities at a time when technology companies including its California ally are looking to expand in vehicles.