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Despite years of speculation about an Apple Car, we still have little hard information about Apple’s plans.

When did the rumors begin?

The first reports date back to early 2015, when a camera-festooned car was shown to be leased to Apple. While some believed this was for Apple Maps, others suggested it looked more like a test-bed for a self-driving car. Shortly afterwards, Apple was found to be poaching Tesla engineers., and we uncovered a significant number of senior automotive hires.

What is Apple up to?

This is the $64,000 question. We know for sure that Apple is very actively exploring some kind of move into the automotive sector, but it’s still not 100% clear that the company plans to go as far as launching a car, which consumers will be able to buy.

Apple has said only that the area is of interest to the company.

We’ve seen three main possibilities suggested:

Some kind of car technology, but not a car

The first suggestion is that Apple wants to create some kind of car tech, but not go as far as actually making a car. Some believe Apple’s primary interest is in the in-car experience as the world transitions to self-driving cars – a kind of CarPlay on steroids, if you will. Others believe there is enough evidence that Apple is working on self-driving technology, but that it will license this to other companies, rather than make its own car.

Ride-sharing cars

The second possibility is that Apple plans to make cars, but not for retail sale. One obvious market for autonomous cars is ride sharing, so it’s possible that Apple plans to make a self-driving car for a ride-sharing service, but we wouldn’t be able to buy one.

A car for retail sale

The third option, of course, is a full-on car that consumers can lease or buy outright. It’s this possibility which has understandably lead to the greatest amount of debate and excitement.

Who would make it?

Assuming Apple does plan to actually make a car, it would partner with a manufacturing company to actually produce the vehicles. Here there are two possible routes the company could take.

Partner with an established brand

Apple has been reported to have discussed a possible partnership with a wide range of established carmakers. These include Hyundai/Kia, Nissan, BMW, and Canoo.

The Hyundai/Kia idea was once presented as if it were almost a done deal, before later being dismissed – though there remains some minor partnership talk.

The big stumbling block here appears to be branding. Existing car brands would be reluctant to be relegated to the role of a contract manufacturer, where Apple makes all the decisions and the car has only Apple branding.

Use a contract manufacturer

The other, perhaps more likely, possibility is that Apple commissions a contract manufacturer to build the cars, just as it uses companies like Foxconn and Pegatron to make iPhones and other Apple products.

Foxconn is known to be working on electric car production, but likely working more at the lower end of the market. The company did buy a US EV factory, but almost certainly not for Apple cars. Magna is one of the best-known contract manufacturers able to build models for premium brands, and so appears a likely contender.

What have existing car makers said?

Unsurprisingly, almost all are claiming not to be worried. For example, BMW’s CFO says he “sleeps peacefully” while VW says the company isn’t afraid. Toyota thinks Apple doesn’t understand that you have to be ready to provide 40 years of after-sales support for a car, where Apple tends to discontinue support five to seven years after it ceases to sell a particular model.

In reality, of course, any premium brand car maker has to be sweating right now. Tesla is the only car company to openly admit that Apple will pose extremely tough competition.

When would an Apple Car be launched?

This too is one of the Big Questions. In 2015, some suggested an Apple Car might go on sale as early as 2020, which of course didn’t happen. A variety of other dates have been suggested, from 2024 through 2026 to 2028 or beyond.

With no deal apparently yet struck, and no leaks of anything specific, it is certainly clear that Apple is nowhere close to a launch anytime soon.

Concept image: CarWow

Apple reportedly developed chip equivalent to four M2 Ultras for Apple Car project

Apple Car Play

The Apple Car never saw the light of day, but recent reports have revealed that the project known as “Titan” was canceled after 10 years and billions of dollars spent. Apple had ambitious plans for its electric car, like having an advanced autonomous driving system. And to make this a reality, the company reportedly developed a chip equivalent to four M2 Ultras combined.

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These two models give a glimpse into the abandoned Apple Car designs

One Apple Car design resembled Canoo Lifestyle Vehicle (shown)

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 …

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Apple talks with Mercedes, Ford, Tesla, and more detailed in new in-depth Apple Car report

Apple Car Play

As you may be familiar with by now, Apple has officially canceled its project to build an electric car. The project never saw the light of day and wasn’t even confirmed by Apple, but the company had been working on its own car since 2014. Following reports that Apple had approached Tesla for a partnership, we now know that the company has also talked to Mercedes-Benz about building an Apple Car together, per Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.

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NYT: Apple held talks with Elon Musk about buying Tesla, planned to use Siri instead of a steering wheel for Apple Car

Yesterday, Bloomberg reported that the Apple Car project is officially dead after more than a decade of work. In a new story today, The New York Times shares additional details on the turmoil inside the Project Titan team, based on conversations with “a half dozen people who worked on the project over the past decade.”

Some of these details were previously reported by NYT technology reporter Tripp Mickle in his After Steve book.

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AAPL investors don’t care that the Apple Car is cancelled

Apple Car is cancelled reaction | Close-up of engine start/stop button

It’s not the first time we’ve heard it reported that the Apple Car is cancelled, but yesterday’s Bloomberg report does seem definitive – with two very senior Apple execs said to have made an official announcement to the Titan team.

But while it may be dramatic news in one sense, after the company spent a huge amount of money over more than a decade, the evidence is that AAPL investors were almost entirely unmoved …

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Apple cancels Apple Car project after more than a decade

Apple Car design Project Titan

Bloomberg reports that Apple has officially canceled its effort to build an electric car. The move was announced internally by Apple COO Jeff Williams and Kevin Lynch, who had been leading the Apple Car project since 2021.

“Apple’s most senior executives finalized the decision in recent weeks,” the report says. The project had reached a “make-or-break point” inside Apple, with Tim Cook also facing pressure from shareholders to make a decision.

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The Apple Car may be a me-too product, but that’s what Apple does best

Apple Car may be a me-too product | Low-key photo of a Mercedes

My colleague Zac wryly observed that the Apple Car has been four years away for nearly nine years now, following a report suggesting it will go on sale “as soon as 2028.”

That report also suggested that Apple has massively downgraded its ambitions, to something on a par with a Tesla, leading to critics referring to it as a “me too” product …

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Bloomberg: Apple targets 2028 release date for its own electric vehicle

Project Titan, the Apple electric car project, has been underway since 2015. But the project has faced numerous delays and repeated executive turnover. Initially planning to make a fully autonomous vehicle without a steering wheel, those lofty ambitions have come crashing down to earth in recent years.

With Apple VP Kevin Lynch leading the project since 2021, the company has set a new release date for the launch of its first vehicle: 2028. That’s according to a new report today from Bloomberg.

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There’s an Apple Car airbag problem – but the company has a solution

Apple Car airbag challenge | Steering wheel airbag deployed

Airbags have been proven to save lives, but an Apple Car airbag system presents a new challenge – one which could be solved by a new approach, says the company.

Airbags have been around for a long time. The first one to be fitted to a car dates back to Chevrolet Impala with a customized Oldsmobile dashboard in 1973, followed by an Oldsmobile Toronado, and they’ve been required by law in all cars sold in the US since 1998. That’s with good reason …

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Apple Car external displays could use hi-viz tech to advise other road users

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One of the features of Drive.ai, a self-driving car startup acquired by Apple back in 2019, was the use of external displays intended to let pedestrians and other road users know what the car was doing. A new patent for Apple Car external displays shows how the Cupertino company might improve on this tech.

Drive.ai first fitted external displays to its test vehicles back in 2016, and improved on them in 2018, but Apple thinks more needs to be done …

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Apple Car LiDAR system could be made by iPhone supplier

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The Apple Car LiDAR system could be made by the same company which makes the laser scanning system used in some iPhone models to help mimic shallow depth of field in Portrait photos and Cinematic Video footage.

While self-driving cars can use a variety of different technologies to make sense of the world around them, it’s believed that Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) will be the primary one used by Apple …

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