Apple has presented the world with a library of devices that have since become household names, many of which we use daily. There are the iPhone, iPad, MacBook Pro and AirPods; but when you think of Apple, car is not the first word that comes to mind. That may change soon, as recent news has given new life to more than ten years of rumors surrounding Apple’s attempt at an electric car. Here is everything we know so far, along with the winding road of a backstory that has brought us to this point.
Apple’s attempt on an electric car
Apple’s tech titan may be stepping out of its comfort zone – okay, stepping out of its comfort zone – when trying to create an electric car, but if any company has the resources and cash flow to achieve that high goal, Apple would make him close to the top of most people’s list. While recent updates have stirred the melting pot of speculation among Apple and EV fans, this story remains a work in progress and started much longer than you can imagine.
The Apple Car saga dates back to 2007. Apple executives had launched the idea of an electric car, but decided to focus all their resources on developing a new type of smart cell phone called the iPhone. That decision seems to have paid off, but not even a year later, Steve Jobs was thinking about how Apple could develop its own car.
From there, the rumor and overture slowly disappeared into the shadows of Apple’s electronics – products that were significantly smaller and cheaper than a vehicle. That’s until 2015, when a report revealed that Apple may not have given up on its automotive dream after all.
Apple Autonomous Driving
After suspicious mini vans with cameras on top spotted in San Francisco were linked to locations by Apple, the rumor once again opened its doors to business. Reports at the time stated that an Apple employee revealed that the tech giant had a project that “would give Tesla a run for its money.” This news came shortly after reports of a war between Apple and Tesla in poaching each other’s employees. Tesla CEO Elon Musk boldly called Apple “Tesla cemetery”, due to the complex and meticulous process of developing and manufacturing vehicles that it experienced first hand.
Musk would continue to criticize the tech giant, claiming that Apple’s plans to build an electric car were “an open secret”. He went on to say that it is difficult to keep a project a secret when you have to hire 1,000 engineers (some of them Tesla alumni) to do it.
What’s especially funny about the past five years of scams at Apple is Elon Musk’s recent revelation that he tried to sell the Tesla to Apple for 1/10 of its current value, and CEO Tim Cook didn’t even accept the meeting.
Tesla now positions itself as the world’s most valuable automaker by market value, while only small crumbs of details begin to emerge over Apple’s potential electric car project, dubbed the “Titan Project”.
Titan Project
In early 2016, it was reported that Apple registered several different domain names, suggesting the name of its vehicle program as “Titan Project”. In addition, Apple was suspected of operating Project Titan under a front company called SixtyEight Research in Sunnyvale, California. He had purchased a variety of real estate properties in that area, fueling speculation, as the area checked many boxes for building a car. This move, along with the hiring of several rival automaker executives and engineers, corroborated the rumor that Apple had plans to launch an electric car.
From then on, the trail cooled again – or at least it became nebulous as to the general objective of the project. Soon after that, rumors began that Project Titan had abandoned the development of its own electric car and instead turned its focus to autonomous driving. That plan would imply that Apple would develop autonomous steering technology while relying on a separate car manufacturer to build its own ships.
This appeared to be Apple’s course of action in automated gaming until early 2019, when it laid off 200 workers from its autonomous vehicle department. Apple called the move “personnel restructuring” and still projects great confidence in its program. Later that year, several other autonomous vehicles from Apple were spotted and said they were equipped with new cameras, sensors and LiDAR.
Titan Project Today
Now it looks like Project Titan is spinning again. According to a Reuters in late 2020, Apple plans to continue to develop its autonomous driving technology, with plans to produce its own passenger vehicle to present it by 2024. So now it looks like we have a recent nod to an Apple Car back to work , and a new timeline for when the world can catch a glimpse of it. If it were not apparent from the winding history of this project to this point, even Reuters‘recent news should have an asterisk:
There is still a chance that Apple will decide to narrow the scope of its efforts to an autonomous steering system that would be integrated into a car made by a traditional automaker, rather than the iPhone maker selling an Apple-branded car, one person added.
Rumors of Apple Car features
Since Apple declined to comment on the recent Reuters report, it may take a while for the technology world (or the whole world) to discover what Apple has in store for its own car. For now, we know only small details that give a hint of what Apple is developing and how it can fit into a future EV.
One thing that is more relevant, whether Apple makes its own vehicle or outsources it, is the focus on autonomous driving. Current rival (but not yet rival?) Tesla has recently made major strides towards automatic steering capabilities among its fleet of electric vehicles. All signs point to FSD as the future of vehicular travel, whether it becomes more suitable for individual owners or for public transport and ride-sharing options such as self-contained taxis.
Apple has not yet shown where it has improved, so it could be both … or none. For now, bet that Apple will continue to focus on improving any autonomously driven AI technology it has and deciding from there what exactly to do with it.
Apple Batteries
Apple and EV fans can look forward to a new battery design too … whatever that happens. O Reuters report revealed:
At the heart of Apple’s strategy is a new battery design that could “radically” reduce the cost of batteries and increase the vehicle’s range, according to a third person who saw Apple’s battery design.
Apple declined to comment on what this supposed new design will offer, so it’s understandably difficult to be excited. Last fall, Tesla started manufacturing its own powerful battery cells with the hope of surpassing the current worldwide production capacity of lithium-ion battery cells. It is difficult to guess where Apple is in its battery schedule based on a third-person report, but it is more than likely that they will have to update Tesla. Elon had some thoughts on the subject:
Apple electric car release date?
As mentioned earlier, Apple reportedly expects to have some kind of Apple vehicle by 2024. Whether that car was fully designed and manufactured by Apple or ordered from another automaker, it has yet to be confirmed.
In that sense, recent rumors have started to increase even more around the potential launch of the Apple Car. An Apple analyst recently called the current market “very optimistic” and drivers speculate that they may not see Apple’s first vehicle until 2028. Ideally, Apple presents its own news and can confirm some of the speculation mentioned above, but for now we will all have to wait until another leaked rumor leads the masses into a new direction. We have already waited thirteen years for concrete answers, what are the others?
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