The Apple Car has officially been consigned to history as one of many products that were rumored for years but never came to fruition, but that doesn't stop speculation that another tech giant might cross the line and enter the electric vehicle market.
Amazon is set to start selling cars in the US this year. Not its own product, but a Hyundai one. You may be wondering what Amazon's EV will look like. Google and Microsoft have also looked into the self-driving car field in the past. What will their cars look like now? Someone has gone to the trouble of asking an AI image generator some questions to bring out some ideas.
Amazon's car
Delivered with a smile (Image credit: Leasing Options AI generated)
It's important to emphasize that at this point, there are no rumors that Amazon is looking to develop its own EV, though the company does plan to start selling cars online in the US this year, starting with Hyundai vehicles. That was enough for UK-based car leasing company Leasing Options to turn to AI to get an idea of what an Amazon car might look like.
To be honest, I'm not at all sold on the results. If Amazon made a car, it wouldn't have the Amazon logo or branding on the front, unless it was an Amazon Basics EV. Even the Kindle has its own name and branding, albeit with a subtle Amazon smile on the back. Putting a smile between the headlights is just way too cheesy. The design also looks like a delivery vehicle, no doubt inspired by the electric delivery van Amazon developed with Rivian.
Google Car
Return of the Fireflies (Image credit: Leasing Options AI generated)
Google has a hand in just about everything, and once even had a project to develop a self-driving electric car: Subsidiary Waymo developed a steering-wheel-less, two-seater vehicle called Firefly, a name that was later adopted by Adobe for its AI generator, before it was eventually cancelled in 2017.
So what does the AI Google Car look like today? Hmm… it's basically just a Firefly with some weird futuristic wheel trims added. Same rounded pod-like design, cute koala face. This supports the claim that AI image generators can't come up with original ideas. “Imagine a Google Car.” Wait, that's teeth The Google car from 8 years ago.
Microsoft Cars
Well, there is Windows (Image credit: Leasing Options AI generated)
Microsoft is another tech giant that's been pushing AI hard (though Copilot appears to have gone off the rails again, now called SupremeAGI). Microsoft has previously explored entering the self-driving car industry, investing in Cruise in 2021 alongside General Motors and Honda.
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Once again, the AI seems unable to see deeper than the most superficial level of branding. Would a Microsoft car really flaunt the Microsoft logo and its four-color light strip like a gaming PC lit up for Christmas? Of course not. Even existing Microsoft computing hardware, such as the Surface series of laptops and tablets, doesn't wear the Microsoft logo's colors. Strip that away and the design is a pretty generic futuristic-looking electric vehicle, not all that different from some of the fan concepts for the Apple car that have appeared over the years.
We often hear that AI is better at brainstorming and ideation, but worse at execution. But these AI-generated cars have one limitation: AI image generators can only suggest ideas based on images they've been trained on. An AI asked to generate a vision for a futuristic car for a tech brand will inevitably be influenced by cars these companies have made in the past and their core brands.
