Tesla, Not Apple, Will Come Up With Next Big Thing: Wozniak

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak may have helped create one of the biggest tech companies today, but it seems he doesn’t have high hopes for its innovational capabilities.

In an interview with Bloomberg Canada, Wozniak mentions that he believes Apple will not be the source of the next big idea, but that will actually come from eccentric entrepreneur, Elon Musk.

“I think Tesla is on the best direction right now,” he said in the interview. “They’ve put an awful lot of effort into very risky things.” Wozniak mentions Musk’s futuristic outlook as proof of that, pointing out how he anticipated the trends for electric and self-driving cars, as well as other public transport systems like Hyperloop and the Boring Company.

Tesla and Apple have a considerable rivalry that has led to the two companies trying to lure employees from the other, such as MacBook Air designer Matt Casebolt moving from Apple to Tesla in January. Last year, Apple recruited Tesla’s former VP of Vehicle Engineering, Chris Porritt, to work on “special projects.”

Where Tesla has self-driving capabilities within its cars, Apple has also been rumoured to be working in that direction as well. Known as “Project Titan,” the secret project was earlier rumoured to cover the construction of an Apple-designed car, but the rumours have scaled down the size of the project to in-car systems, with Apple recently found to be testing its own self-driving technology on public roads.

Aside from Tesla, CEO Elon Musk has also backed other transportation projects, including the high-speed Hyperloop transit system. More recently, he started up the Boring Company, a firm that aims to drill tunnels under cities to give an alternative transport network for commuters.

“They started with a car – the Tesla Model S – that made little sense in engineering terms in how much you have to build for what price and what the market will be,” Wozniak said. “It fit one person’s ideal of this will be the most beautiful, you know, a very beautiful, elegant and simple device to use.”

“It was really built for Elon’s own life. What car would he like? And when things come from yourself, knowing what you’d like very much and being in control of it that’s when you get the best products,” he concluded.

What do you think? Apple versus Tesla for the future of innovation?