Apple Car antitrust concerns are already being voiced, despite the fact that it doesn’t yet exist, and may never exist. Indeed, the potential for antitrust action could be greater if Apple doesn’t ever sell its own car …
Similar concerns are being expressed about Google partnerships with car makers, with some accusing the two companies of preparing to create a duopoly when it comes to in-car operating systems.
Politico reports that eyebrows were raised over a recent Ford announcement.
When Ford announced that starting in 2023 its cars and trucks would come with Google Maps, Assistant and Play Store preinstalled, CEO Jim Farley called the partnership between his iconic U.S. automaker and the search giant a chance to “reinvent” the automobile — making it an office-on-wheels, with more connectivity than any phone or laptop.
“We were spending hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of millions every year, keeping up with basically a generic experience that was not competitive to your cellphone,” Farley crowed on CNBC, announcing the six-year deal with the tech giant.
The deal gave Ford some much-needed cachet and Google a chance to showcase its products for millions of drivers and their passengers. But many tech-industry watchdogs looked at the Ford-Google car of the future with different eyes. They fear that tech companies will soon be doing to cars what they did to phones: Tying their exclusive operating systems to specific products to force out competitors and dominate a huge swath of the global economy.
Commentators say that as the world moves slowly toward autonomous cars, the most important automotive features will not be about the car itself, but about the in-car experience.
“The ride is no longer the point,” said Jim Heffner, a vice president at Cox Automotive Mobility who specializes in autonomous and connected vehicles. “Data is the cornerstone. … Apple and Google and others want to be at the epicenter of that.”
While most of the current concerns focus on Google, there are similar fears around Apple.
While the Apple Car looks like an exciting new technology, a less charitable view of Apple’s strategy is the company wants to further enmesh consumers into their profitable ecosystem, where the company gets a 30 percent cut of all digital sales, said Trendacosta, associate director of policy and activism at EFF, which counts Google search rival DuckDuckGo among its donors.
For decades, Apple has espoused some of the most restrictive repair policies for its computers, phones and tablets. Only in November after a push by the White House and federal regulators did the iPhone maker announce that it would begin allowing consumers to repair their own devices.
“Apple’s whole goal is to lock you into their ecosystem,” she said. “I don’t love the idea of them doing that in car form as well.”
Currently, automakers are still trying to make their infotainment systems the primary way consumers interact with the vehicle. However, the Google-Ford partnership represents the dawning of a recognition that automotive makers will always lag behind with their own tech, and that consumers prefer the familiarity of their smartphone interface.
If Apple’s plans are to make and sell a car, then it seems hard to see how antitrust issues could arise: we’d of course expect an Apple Car to be fully integrated with the rest of the ecosystem. However, were Apple to enter partnerships with automotive makers to provide the in-car experience – from maps to music – then a case could potentially be made that the Cupertino and Mountain View companies are between them creating a de facto duopoly in terms of in-car tech.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
