iCar? Apple plans self-driving personal vehicle for 2024 launch
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Apple is working hard to kick start its self-driving car technology, with a target of 2024 to produce a passenger vehicle
Apple is working hard to kick start its self-driving car technology, with a target of 2024 to produce a passenger vehicle.
Reuters reported that the vehicle would possibly include its own battery technology. Known as “Project Titan”, Apple’s efforts didn’t take off as expected when the company first announced plans to design its own vehicle from scratch in 2014.
In the middle, Apple hit a roadblock after which it reassessed the project and the software. A veteran from Apple - Doug Field, who had been working at Tesla returned to Apple to oversee the project. In 2019 alone, he laid off 190 people from the project.
Now, Apple wants to get its car out for customers to use. The Guardian reported the same while adding that Apple does not want its plans to go public yet.
As opposed to Alphabet’s Waymo, Apple is going for a personal vehicle approach. Waymo, on the other hand, has built robo-taxis that transport passengers for a driverless cab experience.
Apple is trying to focus on a battery design which could radically reduce the cost of batteries, while improving the range of the vehicle. Apple may be a big tech player with hundreds of millions of products being made every year. But it has never built a car before.
It is still not known who would assemble the car made by Apple, but sources claim that the company will rely on a manufacturing partner to build the vehicles. It is also possible that Apple’s software becomes integrated with a car made by an independent traditional maker.
Media reports claimed that due to pandemic-related delays, the production of Apple cars could be pushed into 2025 or beyond. Apple is trying to revolutionise batteries by using a “monocell” design which would effectively bulk cells in the battery, but to free up space inside the battery pack.