While many concept designers gave us their takes on an Apple Car design before the project was finally abandoned, a new piece suggests that the reality would likely have been less sporty than most of them envisaged.
With Apple originally aiming for Level 5 autonomy – with no steering wheels or pedals – the main designs created within the company were less sportscar and more minivan …
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman says that Apple’s focus was on maximizing interior space for an environment resembling that of a private jet.
The general idea was a minimalist interface — combined with seats you’d normally see on a private jet or a limousine. Inside, it felt like you were essentially in a “contoured bubble,” I’m told. This incarnation of the car could comfortably accommodate four people, with the seats being able to shift between normal chairs, recliners and foot rests.
It was this goal which pushed Apple’s designers to the minivan approach, and the Canoo Lifestyle Vehicle (above) gives a sense of one of the main designs under consideration.
The Apple car’s circa-2020 design resembled the Canoo Lifestyle Vehicle — a futuristic van with rounded edges — but it had dark black windows with an adjustable tint. There was all-glass sunroof, a pure white exterior and whitewall tires with a black center. The front and back were identical, so it would always look like you were driving forward.
Another design is said to be “nearly identical” to the 2017 Volkswagen ID Buzz – perhaps not coincidentally.
An earlier design dreamed up by the legendary Jony Ive looked like a modern reincarnation of the 1950s Volkswagen microbus. It was dubbed the Bread Loaf internally. The second version was an evolution of that and looked nearly identical to the 2017 Volkswagen ID Buzz prototype.
That design was shown off inside Apple well before VW ever announced its concept, and that may not be a coincidence. Some employees left the Apple car group for the German automaker in the mid-2010s.
The final full-on ‘lounge on wheels’ variant was said to have returned to the ID Buzz look, but swapping out the sliding doors for Tesla-style gullwing doors.
But once the company started to face the fact that Level 5 self-driving was more of a pipe-dream than a realistic goal, it had to figure out a design compatible with steering wheel, pedals, and front-facing seats (albeit ones that could swivel to face backwards when not being driven).
After investing a rumored billion dollars a year on the project for a decade or more, Apple finally pulled the plug last month.
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