Is the Apple car still happening? Get updates on the mystery project
The Apple Car has always been shrouded in mystery. It might even seem like an internet meme at this point. It’s the twenty-first-century equivalent of when pigs fly. Will, they ever built it? It seems likely because new reports are showing it’s moving in the right direction.
The Apple Car is a long standing project at Apple dating back to 2014. The Wall Street Journal reported the project, which Apple dubbed as “Titan,” and allocated 1,000 people to the project in 2015. However, it’s also reported Steve Jobs looked into building a car in 2008.
Since December, there have been a plethora of new updates and reports coming out about Apple’s progress with their first car. Here’s what we know.
Where are they now?
According to reports, Apple is looking for a partner to begin building cars. The tech company isn’t looking to build factories from the ground up and want to partner with a car manufacturer to build their first car. It makes complete business sense because why would you build a factory with the risk no one buys the cars.
According to CNBC, Apple was “close to finalizing” a deal with Hyundai to build Apple’s first car. According to the outlet, Hyundai would allow Apple to build their car in a Kia factory in Georgia by 2024. According to Bloomberg, Hyundai released a statement confirming they were in talks with Apple, which Apple didn’t appreciate, and talks stalled.
According to Bloomberg reports, it’s easy to connect the dots to why talks between Apple and Hyundai stalled in recent months. According to the outlet, Hyundai walked back the statement of their involvement in talks with Apple. However, sources for Bloomberg explained Apple is in talks with other manufacturers.
How did they get to production?
As we said above, the Apple Car, or the “Titan” project, has been in the works since 2015. But it’s had a rocky history at the company. Since 2014 Apple seemed to move away from building their own car and focused on creating self-driving technology to sell to car manufacturers. According to The New York Times, Apple tested the technology on a limited closed course.
Apple got a permit to test a self-driving car on a public road, but a year later, the car was rear-ended. The final update seemed to be just as rocky as the entire history of the “Titan” project. In January 2019, Apple laid off 200 people from the project but bought a struggling autonomous car company in July. However, Apple didn’t log many test miles in 2019.
How will Apple differentiate itself from Tesla?
Unsurprisingly, Apple is looking to improve the electric car battery. According to Reuters, Apple is looking to make the battery cheaper and last longer than any car battery on the market. Apple is making improvements to their phone batteries, so their focus on their car battery makes sense.
Apple is also looking to bring their own tech to the car. One of the big additions to the car is Apple’s LiDAR sensors. The sensors are in the iPhone 12 Pro and iPad Pros. The iPhone and iPad use LiDAR to create AR maps with your camera. The Apple Car will use the technology to make AR maps of the world to detect nearby objects.
Another innovation that will reportedly be in the car is self-tinting windows. When Apple filed the patent for the technology, it was a sign Apple’s “Titan” project was still active.
