Apple might make a car seemed like an outlandish rumour. Today, it's
accepted by many as gospel. Numerous reports have filtered through in recent days, providing more detail on Apple's automotive ambitions.
Of course, nothing has been confirmed yet. The Apple Car would be a massive,multi-year undertaking. But here's what we've heard so far:
It's called Project Titan. The detail
comes via a report from the Wall
Street Journal.
It's an electric car. This puts the
company in competition with Tesla,which develops cutting edge electric-powered vehicles. VC and
entrepreneur Jason Calacanis has
predicted Apple will acquired Tesla in 18 months — for an eye-watering $75 billion. Apple CEO Tim Cook has also expressed a repeated interest in renewable energy . The company recently announced it's building a $850 million solar plant to power its
California operations.
It looks like a minivan. The prototype could be subject to change before it hits the roads, however.
Apple has hundreds of people
working on Project Titan,including senior figures from the automotive industry. This includes former Ford engineer Steve Zadesky, who helped build the iPhone. There's
also Johann Jungwirth, who was
Mercedes Benz's R&D chief before
being hired by Apple in September
2014.
Apple employees have been
working on Project Titan for
more than a year , and this team has permission to grow to 1,000-strong.
This is backed up by a previous FT
report, which claimed Apple has
"dozens" of employees working at a
"new top-secret research lab" — and is "recruiting experts in automotive technology and vehicle design."
It might be self-driving. A source
told Reuters that "it's a software game.
It's all about autonomous driving." The Cupertino company is reportedly "is talking to experts at carmakers and automotive suppliers."
Apple has been trying hard to
recruit from Tesla . The two
companies are locked in a hiring war,according to a Bloomberg report, with Apple offering $250,000 starting bonuses and 60% pay bumps . A Mac Observer report expanded on this,saying that Apple is specifically looking for people "with expertise that is most suited to cars." According to LinkedIn, Apple has at least 50 former
Tesla employees on the books.
It's been common knowledge for
some time — if you move in the
right circles. Mac Observer's Bryan
Chaffin says that a source tells him "a lot of people at the top in Silicon
Valley consider it a given that Apple is working on a car." Chaffin himself is "[close] to 100 percent" certain the rumours are true.
Apple design chief Jony Ive has
been complaining about American cars for years. The claim comes via a 2014 interview with designer Marc Newson , one of Ive's friends. Newson has previously designed a concept car for Ford, and joined Apple last year to work on "special projects." Ive also owns a fleet
of classic cars.
Apple employees say they're
working on something that will
"give Tesla a run for its money."
An Apple employee emailed us last
week to say that "Apple's latest project is too exciting to pass up... I think it will change the landscape and give Tesla a run for its money." It's possible they were talking about CarPlay, however — Apple's initiative to have people be able to control car entertainment systems with the iPhone.
A car registered to Apple has
been spotted driving around the
Bay Area decked out with a high-
tech camera rig . Speculation is
divided as to whether it's just for a
forthcoming Google Street View
competitor — or is an experiment in
self-driving car technology.
Last year, Apple CEO Tim Cook
said "there are products we're
working on no-one knows about."
The comments were made in an
interview with Charlie Rose . "And part of some of those are going to come out and be blow-away, probably," Cook added.
Steve Jobs also wanted to build a
car. Before his death, he told the New York Times that "that if he had more energy, he would have liked to take on Detroit with an Apple car." In an interview last year, Apple board member Mickey Drexler also said that Jobs , "if he had lived, was gonna design an iCar... I think cars have an extraordinary opportunity for cool
design."
The leaks might be deliberate.
There's been a flurry of Apple Car
news over the last week — and analyst Gene Munster thinks this is on purpose . He argues that it allows Apple to "provide investors with some insight into Apple's coming plans without making any public statements." It signals to them that Apple has room to grow, after its record-breaking sales in Q4 2014.
We won't see a commercial model
for years. Assuming the rumours are true, with Project Titan's research facility only set up last year, a commercial roll-out is still a long way off.
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