Apple is indeed working on an electric car, according to sources reportedly familiar with the project. As the Wall Street Journal reports, these sources say that it’s a “committed project” aiming to get an Apple car on the market in 2019.
The project is reportedly referred to by the code name Titan, and is being handled by a 600-person team. While Apple has been careful to keep the project under wraps, numerous activities undertaken by the company have tugged the curtain aside. For example, earlier this year Apple was sued by A123 Systems, an electric car battery maker, for allegedly poaching its top talent. And as the WSJ notes, Apple tried to book time at a vehicle testing facility near San Francisco back in May, and in August an Apple lawyer met with California Department of Motor Vehicles officials to discuss vehicle-testing regulations.
Apple’s development of an electric car would seem to be an open secret, at this point. But it’s still early going, and there’s always the chance that such a project could be scrapped if company managers decide it’s unfeasible or otherwise not worthwhile. Still, Apple has proven persistent in pushing out new technologies such as, most recently, the Apple Watch; and company leaders are also probably keen to stay competitive with Google, which has been a rival to the company in other areas and is openly developing its own electric car, albeit a driverless one. (At the moment it appears that Apple is just leaving open the possibility of a driverless version of its car for a long-term future iteration.) It’s certainly an area of interest for the company right now.
Source: Wall Street Journal
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