Elon Musk thinks that Apple started its car project too late

Tesla CEO Elon Musk thinks that Apple will eventually be a direct competitor when it comes to cars, but that they started too late.

"I think it's great that they're doing this and I hope it works out," he said on stage at Vox Media's Code Conference on Wednesday night.

When asked what he thinks Apple's timeframe will be, he said that Apple seems to have missed an opportunity to start earlier.

"I think they should have embarked on this project sooner," he said, when asked about its timeline. "But I don't know when - they don't share with me the details of their production plans. I don't think they'll be in volume production until 2020."

Meanwhile, he said earlier that Tesla wants to be making a million cars a year by then.

"It's a missed opportunity," he added.

Apple at this point has not confirmed that it's working on a car, but Musk has said himself before that the company's plans are an "open secret" in Silicon Valley.

Musk said that although he thinks Apple was a couple years late, "they'll probably make a good car and be successful."

He doesn't see Google as a competitor, however.

"Google has done a great job at showing the potential of autonomous transport, but they're not a car company," he said. "We'd compete with someone that licensed their technology, maybe."