In a LinkedIn post, Diess wrote, "We look forward to new competitors who will certainly accelerate the change in our industry and bring in new skills." Diess continued, in response to being asked about the upcoming, rumored self-driving car from Apple, "The unbelievable valuation and the practically unlimited access to resources instill a lot of respect in us." A recent Reuters report cited Apple's autonomous car plans–which have been rumored since 2014–have picked up steam and could debut in 2024. Tesla CEO Elon Musk responded to the report yesterday to say the rumor was "strange", while also revealed Apple CEO Tim Cook snubbed him when asked to meet about a possible sale of Tesla to the iPhone maker, at $60 billion USD. While the future is unclear for Volkswagen, and a number of other traditional gas-powered car companies, the German automaker is probably fairing best of all out of legacy automakers.