For all their pride and prestige, traditional watch makers wanted to take on smartwatch makers like Apple and Samsung. The result ? An even sharper decline in sales of traditional timepieces. However, traditional automobile makers aren’t going to run on that track. Why ? Because technology is the future after all, and you can’t really sustain in the coming century, if you stick to your traditionalism.
Thus, in a bid to create real smart cars masterpieces, famed German car manufacturer Daimler, is now looking to team up with Apple and Google for built-in software and intelligent systems, to be embedded in its coming models.
“Many things are conceivable,” Reuters quoted Dieter Zetsche, CEO of Daimler, telling quarterly magazine Deutsche Unternehmerboerse. Zetsche believes that Apple and Google want to port their system software for vehicles, thus bringing their ecosystems to a whole new market. He believes that this kind of cooperation could be interesting for both sides.
Zetsche says that Daimler could in fact build cars as part of a joint venture alongside Apple and Google. And while he added that this was purely a “theoretical comment”, he also felt the need to add that Daimler would, under no circumstances, become just a manufacturer of Google or Apple cars. The company doesn’t want to be reduced to a manufacturer of smart cars that are credited to the Silicon Valley.
“We don’t want to become contractors who have no direct contact with customers any more and supply hardware to third parties,” Zetsche concluded.
While both the stated tech giants have their fair share of automotive technology out in the open, it seems that both these firms have bigger ambitions. The self-driving cars could be the best example.
It seems like a two-way bridge to me, as most car companies rely on tech manufacturers when it comes to software and other interfaces because of their inexperience in the sector and Apple and Google require the assistance of an experienced car manufacturer to provide expertise in the design and other sectors. Only time will tell when this symbiotic relationship between these two leading industries will take toll.
At least traditional car-makers have realised one simple fact — technology is future, and companies like Apple or Google will perhaps be a deciding factor in shaping up that tech-driven future. Hence, you ought to align yourself with such companies, to sustain and ultimately build better cars. Who wouldn’t want a Daimler manufactured car running on Apple/Google tech after all !
Edited by Deepanshu Khandelwal
FEATURED IMAGE : REUTERS
