Apple Car: Everything we know about Apple’s now-canceled project

According to rumors, Apple has entirely shelved its “Project Titan” Apple Car and diverted most personnel to its artificial intelligence efforts. The project, which has been discussed since 2014, will not come to pass and will take ten years to complete.

Although it is uncommon, Apple has occasionally cancelled initiatives of this nature. Since the company aims to break into premium markets with high-margin products, an electric vehicle would have come at an extremely high cost.

The project was scrapped due to concerns that the margins would only justify the effort and the sales figures would justify the investment. While some job losses are unavoidable, most employees working on cars’ operating and autonomous systems can be reassigned.

What comes next has been kept intact. It includes all of the information surrounding Apple’s Project Titan patents, rumors, and history until its cancellation on February 27, 2024.

There have long been rumors that Apple is developing several automotive projects that may eventually result in an “Apple Car.” The research is called “Project Titan.”

Although the term has been used to refer to various components and technologies, it can be broadly classified into two areas: car design and self-driving vehicle systems.

The “Apple Car” was once a bit of a secret project known as “Project Titan,” but it has since gone through several cycles of rumors. The car would compete with Tesla in 2015 thanks to its intelligent features like Siri and extensive iPhone integration. Next, it transformed into a customized infotainment system that Apple could offer to distributors, including BMW.

The rumor eventually came to pass and led to the development of a completely autonomous car that needed little to no assistance from a driver. According to reports that surfaced in late 2021, Apple might formally unveil the car project in 2022 and begin testing it by 2025.

Again, rumors were unfounded, as 2022 passed without any official announcement of the Apple Car. According to a report from December 2022, Apple is likely to change its goal of complete autonomy, integrate a steering wheel, and release the device no later than 2026.

Apple Car may never see the light of day, just like the company’s other moonshot projects. As a result of ongoing development and testing, CarPlay and Car Key technologies will instead continue to be released.

“Apple Car” Design

According to early rumors, “Project Titan” would involve an electric car, the “Apple Car,” delivered in 2019 or 2020. However, one source describes the program’s final months of 2015 as “an incredible failure of leadership,” with managers fighting over Titan’s direction. As a result, Steve Zadesky, the project manager, left.

According to sources, “Project Titan’s” technology and design were still in the early stages of development, with Apple even considering basing its “Apple Car” on the BMW i3. Apple and BMW reportedly ended talks with Apple over who would lead the project and own the data, but the two companies had discussed a possible collaboration.

According to a German report, Apple maintained a covert car lab in Berlin, manned by 15–20 “top-class” employees from the German auto industry who worked on projects like “Apple Car” concepts, partnerships for manufacturing, and challenges related to sales and government regulations. Magna Steyr’s Austrian division is one potential manufacturer.

“In a Silicon Valley auditorium packed with hundreds of Titan employees,” Mansfield is reported to have announced the new Titan strategy in May 2016. He explained that following an evaluation, he concluded Apple shouldn’t compete directly with Tesla, which already has several electric cars on the market and is steadily working towards full self-driving systems.

The initial concept of an “Apple Car” that could identify its owner through their fingerprint and then transport them to any location evolved from a car with limited autonomy to a more advanced model. The automotive supply chain, however, is another element that might have stopped Apple from producing its vehicles. Apple may have learned that auto manufacturers would be less willing to commit to an “Apple Car,” given the higher costs involved, even though the company is accustomed to having strong control over suppliers for products like the iPhone. Additionally, Apple is probably only initially producing a small number of cars.

As per the reports, the company is developing its charging system by hiring engineers and negotiating technology with charging station providers. It is reported that Apple was contacted about offering services by an unnamed engineering and construction firm.

According to a July 2017 report, Apple is collaborating on the development of new automotive batteries with the Chinese company Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL). There were few details revealed regarding the confidentiality agreement, and CATL formally declined to comment.

In contrast to the autonomous component, which is obviously in the spotlight, Apple’s design work has mostly been kept under wraps. So far, the only concrete clues as to Apple’s design direction have come from patent applications, aside from rumors that even purport the company is working on an electric van.

Rumors, conjectures, and patent filings suggest that the vehicle’s overall design may differ somewhat from existing car designs.
Apple may borrow its streamlined design language from other products for the “Apple Car,” which also features wide-swinging doors that remove the need for a fixed center door pillar, thus increasing opening sizes. The application of AR and VR technology, in-screen displays, privacy lighting, and inventive sunroof designs are a few suggestions.

Since traditional seating arrangements would be less necessary, the introduction of self-driving systems could further inform vehicle design and lead to more radical layouts.

Apple Cars and privacy

Privacy is one of the less talked-about issues surrounding Apple’s car project. Customers need more from the product than just a stunning vehicle, even though the technology may be astounding.

Comparing Apple CarPlay to OEM infotainment software, the former is more private.

A new risk to user privacy surfaced in 2023: smart cars. Like smart TVs, these online-connected cars try to gather as much information about the driver as possible before sending it back to the parent company for analysis and marketing.

Car data is a gold mine, as data brokers are aware. It can reveal a person’s driving habits, destinations, and even the passengers in their vehicle.

It can be abused to make extra money at the expense of user privacy, just like any other modern technology. At the very least, the Apple Car will consider privacy when making decisions.

When will the Apple car be released?

The Apple Car project is supposedly dead.
Two years after Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo stated in 2020 that the Apple Car might not be released until 2028, reports surfaced indicating that Apple had changed its original target for its release date to 2026.

Analyst Daniel Ives stated publicly that he believed the vehicle’s arrival was a matter of “when, not if” after a period without any Apple Car rumors; however, given Gurman’s report, we have reason to believe that Ives may change his mind.

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