FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Volkswagen in Germany is not worried about any Apple plans for a passenger vehicle that could incorporate the iPhone maker’s battery technology, CEO Herbert Diess said.
Reuters reported in December that Apple may have made enough progress to build a vehicle for supermarkets by 2024, helped by cost cuts in battery technology.
“The car industry is not a normal business that you could take over at one stroke,” Diess was quoted as saying in an interview with Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.
“Apple will not control that overnight,” he said.
While Apple’s plans are not public, Diess said such intentions were “logical” because the company had knowledge of batteries, software and design, and had deep pockets to build on those capabilities.
“However, we are not afraid,” he said.
Volkswagen plans to develop software needed for in-house autonomous cars to ensure it can compete against tech companies in the field of electric car data.
Reciting with Vera Eckert; Edited by Alexander Smith