A New Journey Awaits with AppleCar

Reports that technology giant Apple may be creating a car have got established automakers, who have spent the past 127 years enhancing the combustion engine, wondering whether they are still in pole position to create the car of the future.
The increasing use of computing power in vehicles, and the capability of cars to connect to smartphones and other devices, is giving technology companies and automakers with new business opportunities -- and raising making them rivals.
Thilo Koslowski, vice president automotive at technology market research firm Gartner, believes there is now a race between carmakers and tech companies to regulate the "intellect" of next generation vehicles.
"Among the automakers there will be two groups: those who make out this space, and those who give exclusive technology companies access to the center stack of the vehicle. Those companies will come up in the next five years," he said.
The ability of software companies such as Apple and Google -- which is operating on driverless cars -- to establish and create new revenue streams has spooked automakers.
additional factor intimidating car sole is Apple's size. With a market capitalization of $750 billion, it's worth greater than Daimler, Volkswagen , Renault, Peugeot, Fiat Chrysler, Ford and General Motors put together.
Carmakers haven't given up the contest, and many are investing very much to position themselves as high-tech companies.
Daimler Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche has said the race to create the car of the future is far from over, and it's not yet sure what role technology companies will run.
"Google and the likes want to get connected, I don’t think in the first place to create vehicles," he said.
"We have to understand that, and to find our roles, to which range they are complementary, to which extent we become dependent, to which extent we are challenger."
Daimler, the creator of the modern motorcar, is touting MercedesMe, while corrival BMW is hard-driving ConnectedDrive -- services that give drivers access to live traffic updates, "infotainment", and in fact alert emergency services if a car's airbags are activated.
Underscoring the convergence separating carmakers and technology companies, Renault chief executive Carlos Ghosn is doing an appearance at the telecom industry's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Monday, before moving on to Geneva.
And at the Geneva show, Opel, the European arm of General Motors, is devoting its Opel OnStar connectivity service as much prominence as any of its cars.
The world's automakers will have a big rendezvous in the Swiss city to tout their latest minivans, city cars and sport utility vehicles against an uncertain market backdrop, with increasing signs of recovery in Europe offset by slowing demand in emerging markets. But longer-term worries are also looming large.