Will Apple save the classic car?
03/26/2023
The American company "Apple" probably has as little to do with old cars as it does with, say, bananas or poodles. However, Apple is closer to the car than many other electronics providers; after all, people have been talking about the Apple Car for years and Apple Car Play can be found in every modern car today. But Apple is hardly likely to be interested in old cars and, of course, Apple will not save the classic car in the narrower sense.
You have to think about it a little more broadly, conceptually so to speak. What Apple achieved with the iPhone was to provide a hardware and an operating system and thus offer the basis for many applications (apps). A modern car resembles a computer in many respects; it has bus systems, processors and sensors/displays. These modern cars are quite complex machines. No wonder owners of modern cars worry about whether they will still be serviceable tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. However, it would now be conceivable for the car's operating system to be open and only the individual applications, e.g. the engine control, to be brand- or type-specific. The technical components could be standard parts and have clear specifications. Should a car reach an age where the manufacturer is no longer interested in further development or even maintenance, resourceful technicians could replace the factory applications (e.g. for the engine control system) with a new solution and thus keep the car viable. The operating system could be adapted to new hardware components (e.g. a new LCD screen for the dashboard). The only question is whether car manufacturers themselves would be prepared to be more open to such demands in the future or whether they would have to be "motivated" to do so by the authorities and regulation, e.g. as part of the " Right to Repair" movement.
To cut a long story short: Apple will not save the classic car, but concepts such as those introduced by Apple could certainly help to give modern cars a second and third life in the future, once they have become classic cars themselves.
