Tim Cook, chief executive of Apple, has warned that the global automobile industry is on the brink of a technology-led upheaval, in his most direct public comments yet addressing reports that the iPhone maker is planning to start making its own cars.

苹果(Apple)首席执行官蒂姆錠克(Tim Cook)警告称，全球汽车行业即将迎来技术主导的剧变，这是他迄今最为直接地公开回应有关这家iPhone制造商计划制造汽车的报道。

“It would seem that there will be massive change, massive, in that industry,” Mr Cook said during an interview at the Wall Street Journal’s annual tech conference in Southern California. “I do think that industry is at an inflection point for massive change, not just evolutionary change.”

库克在《华尔街日报》(Wall Street Journal)的南加州年度技术大会上接受采访时表示：“这个行业似乎将会出现巨大的变化，非常大。我的确认为该行业正处于剧变的临界点上，不只是渐进式的变化。”

Apple has been assembling a team of automotive experts and studying what it would take to become a carmaker, according to people familiar with its thinking.

知情人士称，苹果一直在组建一个汽车专家团队，并研究怎样才能成为一家汽车制造商。

Mr Cook did not respond to questions about whether Apple would make its own cars, but made it clear that a series of technology shifts were coming together to create a rare opportunity for outsiders to break into the business.

库克没有回应苹果是否要制造自己的汽车的问题，但他明确表示，一系列技术变化相继到位，为局外人进入这一行业提供了罕见的机遇。

“What I see is, software becomes an increasingly important component of the car in future,” he said. “Autonomous driving becomes very much more important in a huge way in future.”

他说：“我认为，未来软件将成为汽车上越来越重要的组件。自动驾驶也将变得更加重要。”

In spite of the expansive predictions, Apple’s chief said that, for now, his company’s focus would be on winning over car owners with its CarPlay system, which provides a way to plug an iPhone into a car’s systems to act as an entertainment, information and communications gateway.

尽管外界流传着宏大的预言，但库克表示，就目前而言，苹果将致力于让车主安装CarPlay系统，该系统可以让iPhone接入汽车系统，作为一个娱乐、信息和通信网关。

“What we really want, hopefully in the short term, is, we want people when they enter their car to have an iPhone experience,” he said. The poor performance of carmakers’ own technology has left a huge opening for companies such as Apple, Mr Cook suggested, with the current systems usually not ranked among the 10 things car owners like best about their vehicles.

他表示：“我们真正想要的、而且希望在短期就实现的是，让人们上车后有一种iPhone体验。”库克表示，汽车制造商自己的技术表现糟糕，给苹果等公司留下了巨大的机会，当前的车载系统通常不会排在车主最喜欢的十大设备之列。