Apple Car: Everything we know so far

The idea of owning an Apple Car is pretty appealing, even though competition in the electric vehicle market is increasing exponentially. It’s no secret than the Apple Car has been in development for some time, though the company has very little to show for it, as reports indicate that the launch date keeps getting pushed back.

While there are plenty of products that could be the “next big thing” at Apple including Apple Glasses and the Apple VR/AR headset, the Apple Car could also become a new product line for the company. And while it might seem bizarre for a computer company to start making cars, Apple isn’t the only company doing it. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem like the Apple Car will be arriving anytime soon.

Of course, whether Apple needs that “next big thing” is up for debate. Not only does Apple seem to be selling a huge number of iPhones, it also has the Apple mixed reality headset on the way, with that device reportedly coming in 2023. While that has suffered delays, it looks set to arrive long before any car out of Cupertino.

The electric car market is getting a lot more competitive too, with just about every automaker throwing their weight into the growing business. Even a few regular tech companies have announced plans to produce their own electric cars, including Sony and Xiaomi. Even Foxconn, the company that build Apple’s iPhones, has thrown its hat into the EV race.

Apple’s going to need a lot to stand out, though perpetually-circulating rumors that the Apple Car will be completely autonomous might be exactly what the company needs. It would be a huge deal if Apple could actually pull that off.

Details remain scarce right now, and Apple is not one to comment on rumors are speculation. We know the car is in the works, in some shape or form, but that’s about it. Still, if the prospect of getting the Apple Car within a few years has plenty of people excited. If you’re one of them, and want to learn more, you’re in the right place. Here’s everything we know about the Apple Car, including leaks, rumors, and that all-important release date.

The Apple car may no longer be a fully autonomous vehicle when it launches, as its target date has reportedly been pushed back to 2026. That same Bloomberg report also suggests the price of the car could drop under $100,000 after earlier reports claimed a $120,000-plus price tag was possible.

So far, Apple hasn’t explicitly commented on the Apple Car and when we might be able to drive one. If you can call using an autonomous car driving, that is.

The most recent report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman (opens in new tab) claims that Apple has pushed back the debut of the Apple Car until 2026. Previously, the company had reportedly been gunning for a 2025 launch, speeding up development on the project after several delays.

That reported delay could signal that Apple may produce a car that’s not fully autonomous, reserving that feature for freeway driving.

Other recent reports claim Apple has decided to handle the Apple Car’s development by itself instead of partnering with an experienced automaker.

We need to take all of these rumors this with a degree of skepticism, as car making is a lot harder than smartphone designing. However, things are looking quietly optimistic that we’ll see the Apple Car before too long — although it clearly won’t be one of the products Apple releases in 2022.

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Apple Car price

If the release date of an Apple Car feels like a moving target, imagine what the rumored price of the vehicle must feel like. That same Bloomberg report that talked up the possibility of a 2026 release also suggested the car might cost below $100K, putting it on par with the most expensive Tesla vehicles.

Previously, some Apple watchers were predicting a $120K-plus price tag, thugh that was before rumors of Apple scaling back their ambitions.

Apple Car features

The Apple Car wasn’t supposed to be your typical electric car, though it may no longer do all the driving for you, as had been previously rumored. The car’s self-driving capabilities now sound like they’ll be limited to freeway driving based on recent reports.

Even with the scope of autonomous driving scaled back, Apple’s car is likely to be equipped with LiDAR sensors that will help it “see” the world around it.

Apple is no stranger to LiDAR, having included it on certain high-end iPhones and iPad Pros, and everything we’ve seen suggests it’ll be coming to the Apple Car as well.

LiDAR is short for “Light Detection and Ranging”, and the system works by sending out pulsed lasers. Those lasers will be reflected back to the car’s sensors as it hits objects, and using that information it forms a picture of what objects are in the surrounding area and how far away they are.

But LiDAR is used by almost every self-driving car out there. In fact only Tesla has sworn off LiDAR in favor of a computational vision system.

With that in mind, the Apple Car is going to need to have a fair bit of computing power behind it, and a report from analyst Colin Barnden (opens in new tab) suggests that it could all come from a “C1” chip. Per Barnden, this will be based on the iPhone XS’s A12 Bionic and will pack in AI-centric features.

Apple Car concept

(Image credit: YouTube/AutoEvolution)

MacRumors (opens in new tab) notes that this report is highly speculative, though, and it would be quite strange for the Apple Car to be powered by a chip that will be six years old in 2024. The A12 is powerful, but Apple has plenty more chips that perform even better, and it seems unlikely it would opt for such ageing hardware.

Instead Mark Gurman reports (opens in new tab) that Apple will be developing its most advanced chips for use in the Apple Car. The chip is said to be mostly formed of neural processors to power all the AI algorithms the car will need if it really will drive itself.

Gurman also claims that Apple will be focusing on the interior design, since the Apple Car is supposed to be largely “hands-off,” and that includes both an infotainment system and integration with Apple’s existing suite of services.

What really sets the Apple Car apart, from what we’ve heard, is its monocell battery technology. According to reports, this maximizes the size of the cells inside the Apple Car’s battery pack, which means it theoretically gets a longer range out of a single charge.

Reports also claim Apple is also set to use lithium iron phosphate in its batteries, rather than the usual lithium-ion solution, which is less likely to overheat. That should, in turn, make the car much safer.

apple car sunroof patent illustration

(Image credit: USPTO/Apple)

A patent also revealed the first piece of information of a possible design. The Apple Car may come with a system offering “variable opacity.” which, like Mercedes’ Magic Sky, lets the driver control how much light comes through the roof. The patent also mentions that this roof is retractable, which Mercedes’ is not, and can retract as the side windows are opened.

Apple Car autonomous driving

One of the long-standing Apple Car rumors is that it would be a self-driving car of some kind, though current rumors suggest Apple is settling on limited autonomy, like the Level 2 autonomous driving systems currently on the road. Previous reports hinted that Apple was aiming for a true self-driving car that didn’t need any human interaction.

A report from TheElec claims Apple has partnered with Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test company (OSAT) in South Korea to develop chips for the Apple Car’s autonomous driving system. However the report likened it to Tesla Autopilot, which is a long way off true autonomous driving.

According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman in an older report, Apple had been working on both systems — but recently combined the work into a single unified autonomous car.

Apparently the goal is to develop a ‘hands-off’ driving experience that wouldn’t have any ability for a human driver to control the car. A level 5 autonomous system in other words. With this in mind Cupertino has been reportedly hiring engineers to test and develop safety features that would enable such a system to be allowed on the roads.

Apple is also said to be looking for software engineers to develop “experiences for human interaction with autonomous technology,” and focus on the interior car experience. Because people need something to do when they’re not driving.

It’s not entirely clear whether this would make the Apple Car a machine you own, or an Uber-like service that you hail. previous rumors suggested it would be the former, but either way it’s going to be a big change for modern motorists.

Where’s the Apple Car being built?

Apple is, as many people know, a computing company with absolutely zero experience building and selling cars. So the prospect of it actually building the Apple Car itself is kind of laughable.

It’s more likely the actual manufacturing would be outsourced to a different company with all the relevant resources already. While there’s no shortage of automakers out there, it’s been reported that many of them are hesitant about being involved with the Apple Car.

Evidentially the big brands don’t want to end up as “the Foxconn of the auto industry”, referencing the Taiwanese company best known for manufacturing iPhones and other products for the company.

Right now the frontrunner for Apple Car construction is said to be LG and Canadian auto-parts manufacturer Magna. Magna has manufacturing plants all over the world, so it’s not clear which ones would be used to build the Apple Car.

Meanwhile Apple has reportedly demanded any battery partners manufacture the Apple Car’s batteries in the United States, something that has apparently caused some bad blood between Cupertino and some potential Chinese partners.

Earlier reports suggested that Hyundai was the frontrunner for Apple Car, though it’s since been reported that Hyundai isn’t particularly interested in developing a car under someone else’s name. For reasons subsidiary Kia was brought on board as a replacement — with the goal reportedly being to produce the Apple Car at its plant in Georgia.

Unfortunately talks broke down after news of the potential deal leaked, with Apple “pausing” talks and looking elsewhere. There have been reports that the Kia deal isn’t completely dead, though we haven’t heard anything positive on that front in the months since.

Ming-Chi Kuo has also claimed that Apple was partnering up with Hyundai to use its E-GMP battery electric vehicle platform. That will form the basis of the Apple Car’s first chassis. Apple was also said to be considering partnerships with General Motors and European car maker PSA, who may help the Apple Car launch in international markets.

None of these potential partnerships seem to have panned out. Apple is now reportedly looking to South Korean firms to provide the components for building the Apple Car, as well as the batteries. If previous reports about Apple’s U.S. manufacturing conditions are true, it’s likely the company is still looking at assembling the Apple Car in the U.S.

The most recent news we have is that Apple may be considering a takeover of struggling startup Canoo, who are aiming to start production on their first EV this year. The report suggests that Apple is not interested in the company’s technology, and is more interested in its engineering staff. However whatever production connections Canoo can offer would likely be a boon.

Apple Car: What it would look like

Given where we are in the Apple Car development cycle — it’s still pretty early on — there’s not a lot of images out there to reveal what an Apple-designed car might look like. So we’ve got concept designers stepping up to fill in the gap between imagination and reality.

Apple Car concept design

(Image credit: Leasefetcher)

One of the boldest designs we’ve seen so far comes from designer Leasefecher, which released a series of renders that imagine Apple Cars based on famous Apple products. Our favorite example takes a Nissan GT-R and combines it with an iPhone 12 Pro, but there are other concepts from Leasefetcher that draw on the original iMac and iPod for inspiration.

ugly apple car concept

(Image credit: Vanarama)

Vanaram has also developed a 3D model of a possible Apple Car design, which is claims is based on official Apple patents. However we have no doubt that the Apple Car will look a lot different, because this design is ugly as sin.

It even features three pedals and a large front grill, both of which would defy the many, many rumors that the Apple Car will be an all-electric vehicle.

Apple Car: Development history

The history of the Apple car goes all the way back to 2014 under the name “Project Titan,” purportedly with the goal of releasing it to the public in 2020. Obviously that never happened, but reports seem to suggest that some progress is being made on making the Apple Car a reality.

We have had glimpses of some sort of Apple affiliated vehicle, supposedly testing self-driving tech, throughout California. Apple has always kept those details close to its chest, like it does with everything else, so we don’t have any official statements on what these cars were up to.

What we do know for sure is that these cars weren’t the same vehicles the company used to collect data for Apple Maps.

That said, hiring engineers from the likes of Mercedes, Tesla, and other big car companies confirms Cupertino has some sort of automotive ambitions. But mass layoffs suggest that Apple Car development has not been totally smooth sailing.

The first wave reportedly came in 2016, while another 200 were reportedly moved off the project as recently as January 2019. It’s not clear what happens in both cases, though it was suggested that management didn’t really know where the self-driving car project was going.

A Bloomberg (opens in new tab) report also reports that the Apple Car has lost three executives in early 2021. Dave Scott who led robotics teams, Jaime Waydo who led autonomous driving safety and regulation teams, plus Benjamin Lyon who helped put together the original Apple Car team all those years ago. That’s been compounded by the loss of auto-industry veteran Doug Field, who oversaw the Apple Car project, to rival automaker Ford.

Several months later Apple poached Desi Ujkashevic from Ford, according to a Bloomberg report. Ujkashevic is a 31-year veteran of the automaker, and has been involved in the development of several Ford vehicles — including interiors, exteriors, chassis and electrical systems. Most recently she was global director of automotive safety engineering, which is going to be important where autonomous driving is concerned.

Considering reports claim thousands of employees have been working on the Apple Car, these layoffs and staff departures probably won’t have any serious impact on development. Of course, we don’t know for sure, and we likely never will, even if the Apple Car does arrive mid-decade.

Apple Car: What Apple has said

Apple is usually mum about unreleased products, and the Apple Car is no exception. However, Tim Cook has confirmed that the automotive sector has piqued Apple’s interest, hinting at his company’s car plans during an appearance on Kara Swisher’s Sway podcast (opens in new tab).

“We investigate so many things internally,” Cook said. “Many of them never see the light of day. I’m not saying that one will not.”

More encouragingly, Cook seemed to suggest that should Apple get involved with cars, it would not be content to merely design a software setup and hand it over to a car manufacturer. “We love to integrate hardware, software, and services, and find the intersection points of those because we think that’s where the magic occurs,” Cook said. “And so that’s what we love to do. And we love to own the primary technology that’s around that.”