Apple is back front and center of the talk in the electric vehicle sector with Bloomberg reporting the tech giant is targeting a launch of a self-driving car in four years. Apple's progress in developing a chip made up primarily of neural processors that can handle the artificial intelligence needed for autonomous driving is the driving force in pushing the Apple Car project ahead again.
Previous reports indicated that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company would likely make the autonomous chip for Apple. The company has also held discussions on battery options with Contemporary Amperex Technology Co and $BYD Company (BYDDF).
The general consensus on the initiative is that Apple will seek out a manufacturing partner. But who? Wedbush Securities thinks Apple is very likely to announce a strategic partnership next year that lays out the groundwork needed to enter the autonomous vehicle space.
In his update, analyst Dan Ives mentions Hyundai , Tesla , General Motors , Ford and Volkswagen as potential partners, while noting a partnership in China could include XPeng or Nio . Other companies being bandied around Wall Street as potential AAPL partners include Magna International , Stellantis and Foxconn .
The Apple autonomous car news sent shares of many auto stocks a bit lower after they were already in negative territory. Notable decliners include Lucid Group , Rivian Automotive , Mullen Automotive , Canoo , Ayro , Electameccanica Vehicles , Fisker , $GreenPower Motor Company (GP )$, Workhorse Group , Nikola , Arrival , Faraday Future Intelligent Electric and Proterra .