Apple Car: Everything We Know So Far

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By Talon Homer/Updated: Feb. 22, 2022 3:19 pm EDT

For the better part of a decade, a car manufactured by the Silicon Valley company Apple has been the subject of teasing, rumors, and speculation. Throughout this time, contradictory information surrounding the project has come from both Apple and the automotive press, Apple Insider notes. Seemingly, the car has gone from an uncertain concept to a definite project, and then from cancelation to revival. Even now, the future of the vehicle remains uncertain, as head self-driving engineer Joe Bass has just left for a VR job at Meta (via Tech Radar). The previous September, Doug Field, another Apple Car manager, headed over to Ford.

In this article, we'll break down the timeline of the Apple Car project up to the present day, and try to sort out concrete facts from the ever-changing rumors. From this, we hope to gain an understanding of the car's possible feature-set, as well as the challenges the project still has to face before release.

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Conjecture around the Apple Car first appeared in early 2013, when The New York Times mentioned that company founder Steve Jobs had previously told writer John Markoff about ambitions to produce a car. This claim was corroborated by contemporary Apple board member Mickey Drexler (via Fast Company). Of course, Jobs' original vision for the project never took off due to his battle with cancer and his 2011 death.

In 2015, Business Insider reported that Apple had adopted the name "Project Titan," with about 600 employees dedicated to research and development. Apple was both looking to compete with, and recruit talent away from, Tesla. Project Titan was almost certainly conceived as an electric vehicle, a more natural progression for an electronics company than a car powered by internal combustion. Around the same time, Apple brought Johann Jungwirth, former president of Mercedes-Benz's North American R&D, into the fold (via Forbes).

Also in 2015, San Francisco's KPIX found that modified Dodge Caravans had been registered to Apple. These vans were spotted with multiple roof-mounted cameras and what appeared to be LiDAR receivers, indicating that Apple was potentially collecting data surrounding the development of automated driver assistance. Throughout the Apple Car's timeline, its electric power supply and semi-autonomous system remain a constant vision.

That September, the Wall Street Journal cited anonymous sources claiming Project Titan was slated for a 2019 release. To achieve this quick turnaround, Apple planned to triple its automotive team. However, design challenges would see it delayed.

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In January of 2016 Mac Rumors traced the registration of three web domains back to Apple, those being apple.car, apple.cars, and apple.auto. As of writing in 2022, the URLs have not appeared to publish any content. Tesla's Elon Musk also told the BBC that it was an "open secret" that Apple would be developing an EV to compete with him.

A few months later, in April of 2016, Motor Trend published renderings of what they claimed to be a possible design of Project Titan. It featured a minivan profile, with a large glass canopy and two gullwing doors accommodating four passengers. The digital model was created by staff at Pasadena's ArtCenter design school, but didn't use any input from Apple itself. With that in mind, we consider Motor Trend's vision for the car complete speculation.

The following July, Apple exec Bob Mansfield was selected to head Project Titan, Tech Crunch reported. At the same time, priorities began to shift around the automotive team. Apple was reportedly shopping around for an established car manufacturer to partner with on the project, planning to integrate its automated system with an existing chassis (via Tech Crunch). This decision would make a lot of sense, as Apple could have a much easier time leveraging another company's factory resources rather than starting from scratch. Rumor had it, according to Tech Crunch, that the vehicle was also in danger of cancelation if a working prototype couldn't be shown by the end of 2017.

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In June of 2017, Apple CEO Tim Cook confirmed to Bloomberg that the company was developing "autonomous systems," to be implemented into cars and other machinery. He did not confirm that Apple would design an entire vehicle. The following August, anonymous Apple workers told The New York Times that Project Titan was floundering. The team was "dogged by its size and by the lack of a clearly defined vision of what Apple wanted in a vehicle." Some wanted to deliver a semi-autonomous car to market, while others wanted a fully self-driving vehicle. Both proved too lofty of a goal.

Things shifted for Project Titan in May of 2018. Apple struck a deal with Volkswagen (via The New York Times) to install its autonomous tech into VW's T6 van to create a self-driving electric shuttle. As of writing, however, this is another unfulfilled goal. A former Apple employee told The Times that Tim Cook had met with Nissan, BYD, and McLaren, seeking a partnership. That August, Tesla's former VP of Engineering, Doug Field, joined Project Titan to assist Mansfield, CNBC reported.

2018's upturn was followed by a downswing in 2019. That January, Apple announced it would lay off over 200 workers from the vehicle team, according to CNBC. Additional employees would be moved to other positions within the company. Despite the apparent downsizing, The Verge reported that Apple would acquire self-driving startup Drive.ai that June. Drive.ai was beset with prior financial issues, and its website has since gone offline.

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In June of 2020, Sony debuted an EV concept, the Vision-S, at CES (via The Verge). Although not ready for production, the vehicle displayed many functional features including the powertrain, battery, and interior console. Sony having this prototype to show off made Project Titan seem even more of a mysterious pipe dream.

Reuters reported in December of 2020 that Apple was once again planning to develop a car in-house, with a possible release in 2024. Sources in Project Titan said that the company wanted to implement new "monocell" battery technology in the process to cut size and weight, using lithium iron phosphate as its main chemical agent. Analysts, however, expressed doubt that Apple could deliver a production car at volume, and worried that the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic would cause more delays.

In February of 2021, anonymous sources told CNBC that Apple was pursuing a manufacturing deal with Hyundai-Kia to produce a vehicle made with Apple branding at Kia's Georgia plant. They also claimed that release could be pushed beyond 2024. Just a week later, Hyundai-Kia officially commented just to say that the deal was officially off, noted Reuters.

In September, Doug Field left Project Titan for Ford, and Apple Watch engineer Kevin Lynch became the interim leader. Sources told Bloomberg that Lynch wanted a fully self-driving vehicle in 2025. For this purpose, Apple has outfitted a fleet of 69 Lexus SUVs with various cameras and sensors for testing, and poached self-driving software director CJ Moore from Tesla.

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We arrived in 2022 with the Apple Car's future uncertain. To make matters worse, Sony unveiled yet another concept car on January 5, this time an electric crossover dubbed the Vision-S 02 (via Car and Driver). With this new prototype, the company hopes to enter production and compete with Tesla's Model Y.

With Joe Bass' recent departure, Project Titan faces a tumultuous future. A decade since Jobs' death, the only definitive things we know about the vehicle is that it will be electric, and feature some level of automated driving. No physical prototype or design mock-up has ever been shown. If Apple will have nothing short of a fully self-driving car, then the product may be doomed altogether. Completely autonomous vehicles are at this point, theoretical, and the timeline for when one will make it to market continues to slide further and further into the future, according to Motor Trend.

If the company hopes to save this project, it will need to line up an automotive manufacturer. Apple has attempted to strike co-branding deals with multiple car makers, but it appears that those deals have all either fallen through or fizzled out. The possibility always remains that Apple is negotiating a production partnership behind closed doors, but right now, it would be a shock if we were to see Project Titan in its fully-realized form by 2025.