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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

Kuo: Market ‘too bullish’ on Apple Car, launch could be 2028 or later

Apple Car launch report

The rumors about Apple making its own EV shot back onto the scene last week with a report from Reuters about production possibly starting by 2024. Sources have said that Apple has a breakthrough monocell battery in the works and more. However, reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo is out with a special note on Apple Car that says the market is “too bullish about Apple Car” and that 2025 would be the very earliest we could see the vehicle launch and says realistically, 2028 or later is possible.

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Opinion: Here are some important questions about an Apple Car we should keep in mind

We’ve known that Apple has been working on a car for around six years now. Apple always tries to do their work in secret, but whenever they attempt to enter an entirely new industry it inevitably leaks out. We haven’t heard much about ‘Project Titan’ as we believe it’s been dubbed internally, in quite some time. In fact, I thought the project had finally been axed after countless reorganizations. But just a few days ago, Reuters released a new report about Apple’s automotive efforts and it’s starting to sound like ‘Project Titan’ is back on and in full force.

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Morgan Stanley: Apple Car represents ‘more formidable’ competition to Tesla than legacy automakers

Apple Tesla

A report yesterday from Reuters offered a handful of new details on Apple’s ever-changing plans to build an electric car. In a new investment note seen by 9to5Mac, analysts at Morgan Stanley anticipate that tech players like Apple represent “far more formidable competition than the established OEMs” to Tesla.

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Comment: I’ll believe in the Apple Car launch when the first customer takes delivery

Apple Car launch report

Yesterday saw the latest report of a planned Apple Car launch, this time saying it will happen in 2024.

This is, of course, just the latest installment in the long-running Apple Car saga that dates at least as far back as 2007. Phil Schiller said that Apple execs discussed building a car even before the company released the first iPhone in 2007, and Tony Fadell recalls kicking the idea around with Steve Jobs in 2008.

The first tentative evidence of the company actively working on a car project came to light in 2015, when Apple began poaching Tesla engineers — though we noted at the time that this didn’t necessarily mean too much…

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Report: Apple is designing its own lidar sensors, and in talks with third-party suppliers, for autonomous driving Apple Car project

Apple Car LIDAR

According to Reuters, Apple is in talks with several suppliers of LIDAR sensors, intended to be used in the Apple Car self driving project. Whilst it is still unclear if Apple intends to release an actual car, the company is clearly invested in developing the software and hardware components for autonomous vehicles.

Apple reportedly wants suppliers to make lidar sensors that are ‘cheaper, smaller, and more easily mass produced’ than what is currently available. Reuters also says that Apple is designing its own lidar array whilst evaluating offerings from third-parties.


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Apple Car rumors still in drive, Project Titan said to focus on electric van and battery research

Apple Car Carpool Karaoke

A rumor today from German publication Manager Magazin, shares some alleged details about a shift in Apple’s Project Titan. While Apple’s car efforts were originally expected to include the company manufacturing its own vehicle, it reportedly later changed course to just focusing on developing autonomous vehicle software. However, today’s rumor suggests that Apple is working on its own electric van.


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Apple patent application outlines vehicle unlock system with biometric authentication

A patent application filing by Apple demonstrates a system where a vehicle can be unlocked via mobile biometric authentication, perhaps opening the door (literally) for Face ID to one day secure our cars. Entitled “System and Method for Vehicle Authorization”, the patent was only published last Friday, however, it was filed over two years ago in February 2017.


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Ming-Chi Kuo predicts Macs switching from Intel by 2020-21, TSMC providing Apple Car chips in 2023-25

williams apple

A new note today from Ming-Chi Kuo looks at how Apple’s A-series chips will guide the future of the company including its Apple Car efforts, Mac, and iPhone. He believes we could see Macs with Apple chips by 2020, while an autonomous Apple Car system may be run from custom silicon by 2023.


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Opinion: My money is still against an Apple-branded car in 2025

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Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has a good (if imperfect) track-record, but his latest note – in which he predicts that an Apple Car will go on sale sometime in the 2023 to 2025 timeframe – needs to be viewed in rather a different light to his usual ones.

Kuo has excellent supply chain contacts, giving him good insight into Apple’s short- and medium-term plans. Once a product is actually in production, the complexity of Apple’s supply chain means it’s hard to keep secrets.

But even before volume production begins, manufacturing lines need to be set up, molds need to be created, test-runs need to be carried out. So suppliers will be in a position to know a lot about Apple’s medium-term plans, and Kuo’s contacts can begin feeding him solid information …


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