Apple’s electric auto-car
The tech giant is exploring how to make an entire vehicle, not just designing automotive software or individual components.
“They don’t seem to want a lot of help from carmakers,” said an industry source.
Apple is gathering advice on parts and production methods, focusing on electric and connected-car technologies, while studying the potential for automated driving, the source said.
“Fully automated driving is an evolution. Carmakers will slowly build the market for autonomous cars by first releasing connected and partially automated cars,” the auto industry source said. “Apple is interested in all the potential ways you can evolve the car; that includes autonomous driving.”
Whether it will build and release an electric car or a more evolved autonomous vehicle remains to be seen, the source said. But clearly Apple has sharply raised its ambitions in automotive technology. Car technology has become a prime area of interest for Silicon Valley firms, ranging from Google, which has built a prototype self-driving car, to electric car-maker Tesla Motors.
Trying to build an actual car would mark a dramatic shift for the maker of the iPhone and iPad. Apple often researches projects which are then discarded, but has so far mainly stuck to its core expertise in mobile and electronic devices.
The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Apple had set up a secret lab working on an Apple-branded electric car. The lab was set up late last year, soon after Apple revealed its forthcoming smart watch and latest iPhones. The Apple project — code-named “Titan” — employed several hundred people working a few miles from Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino.
