San Francisco (AFP)

Apple boss Tim Cook alluded to work underway at his company on self-driving cars, without confirming the idea of ​​a vehicle or technology specific to the Apple brand, during an interview with the New York Times published Monday.

“We love to integrate electronic equipment, software and services, and find the points of intersection between those elements, because that's where the magic is, in our opinion. (...) and we love to own the primary technology that makes it all happen, ”he said on the Sway podcast.

He declined to comment on reports that Apple is developing its own car or driverless driving technology, but recalled that the California group "is exploring a lot of stuff internally."

"A lot of them will never see the light of day. I'm not saying this is the case."

"Autonomy is the fundamental technology, in my opinion. If you take a step back, the car, in a way, is a robot. An autonomous car is a robot. You can do a lot of things with it. autonomy. And we'll see what Apple does, "he explained.

Rumors have been rife for several months on possible partnerships with car manufacturers.

At the beginning of February, several media announced that the American firm was on the verge of concluding an agreement to produce its own autonomous vehicles in cooperation with the South Korean giant Hyundai.

The two companies had not confirmed.

Tim Cook was also asked about the two major ongoing conflicts with his neighbor Facebook, on the one hand, and video game publisher Epic Games (Fortnite), on the other.

The iPhone maker is accused by these two companies and others of abusing its position as a dominant platform, to dictate the terms of relations with applications in a way that suits it, whether in terms of data privacy regulations or commissions on the App Store, the app download platform.

Apple is also facing investigations into possible anti-competitive practices by US authorities.

But the leader assured that the company cares above all about the safety of its users.

"Apple has helped build an economy that brings in over $ 500 billion a year, and only receives a dab of that amount in payment for all the innovation it has facilitated and the costs of operating the store ( App Store) So it's hard in my opinion not to view the App Store as an economic miracle, ”he said.

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