Rumors are rife that the long-whispered Apple Car is approximately two years ahead of its schedule and is likely set for release in the third quarter of next year.
There is a long-standing rumor that Apple is working on a project called "Project Titan," and that there are more than 1,000 employees involved. Rumors also say that the project focuses on developing an electric car and has been ongoing since 2014 at an undisclosed location near Apple's Cupertino headquarters. There were talks before that due to internal strife and other issues, Apple shelved the project without giving any hint as to when it would resume. Recently, a new rumor floated online saying that the Apple Car project is actually ongoing and is two years ahead of its schedule. As such, the Cupertino-based tech giant may launch it in the second half of next year.
For those who are not familiar with the Apple Car, it is an electric, self-driving car equipped with the latest technology out of the Research and Development division of the Cupertino tech giant. According to Ming-Chi Kuo, a reliable Apple analyst, it can become the "next star product" of Apple. He also believes that Apple offers "better integration of hardware, software, and services" compared to potential competitors in the car market. While Kuo predicted that Apple Car would be ready between 2023 and 2025, it appears that the Cupertino tech giant is two years ahead of its projected schedule as the company is likely to launch it in the second half of next year.
Sketchy Report Says Apple Car is Years Ahead of Schedule, Will Debut Next Year https://t.co/CQbZXtsGeB — TechnologyTelegraph (@1TechTelegraph) December 21, 2020
The reason why many believed that Apple shelved Project Titan is because the company removed over a hundred employees from the project over the years. In January of 2019 alone, reports indicate that the Project Titan team fired more than 200 employees, though the company claimed the move is part of the restructuring done under Doug Field's leadership. Unknown to many, however, the team is actually two years ahead of schedule with recent rumors saying that Apple Car could be released in the second half of 2021.
The rumored shelving may be nothing more than rumors as it appears that the interest of Apple when it comes to developing electric, self-drive cars did not abate. The rumors about its development being two years ahead of schedule and other whispered talks saying that the company might release Apple Car in the second half of next year is enough testament of the great interest that Apple has in the project. Apple CEO Tim Cook, In June of 2017, publicly talked about their work on autonomous driving software, which confirmed Apple's work on the project. "We're focusing on autonomous systems. It's a core technology that we view as very important. We sort of seeing it as the mother of all AI projects. It's probably one of the most difficult AI projects actually to work on," Cook said of Apple's plans in an interview.
