I never understood their desire to get into the automotive market as anything more than an electronics provider. It's an industry with very high barriers to entry, it's heavily regulated, and has geopolitical implications. Tesla got in on first mover advantage and a low interest rate environment. If I were an Apple shareholder I would have suggested they do practically anything else with the R&D cash.
Did anyone think Apple even had a chance developing a car? That was competitive with Tesla, even if teaming up with an auto manufacturer?
In Silicon Valley, it's common to frame every problem as a software problem - assuming that, why not?
Of course, not every problem is exclusively a software problem.