"Apple doesn’t know how to handle a supply chain, or market its wares" that could also mean they can disrupt and disruption points are associated with market changes (check vapor engine vs fuel or iPhone vs every other phone).
“We are going to build smart cars, but we also need to build smart roads, smart parking, smart public transportation systems, and more,” and this is the critical point, I'm old in tech years... and I like my clockwork internal combustion engines, I like to be able to drive them but the future people may not, getting what that future mass wants is the million dollar goal. For example... people may not want a car but to get somewhere and for example in NY that sound more rational than in TX, can we build a company around providing "Car as a service" (you hear it first here from xlayn :p)
"the Ford executives believe that the firm’s in-house tech expertise is under-appreciated" or it can also mean they could leverage someone else expertise... (this is a question, I don't really know the answer).
Last but not least... he want's to get the company into something while keeping the strong advantage they have in what they are strong and not becoming a hipster startup (as in lets make a trillion dollar company around 140 characters but there is no revenue model)...
Edit: typos