Apple’s Delayed First Car Release and Downgraded Autonomous Driving Features Spark Speculation

Apple now hopes to release its first car in 2028 at the earliest. Insiders report this to Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman. The company would also downgrade the options for autonomous driving from ‘level 4’ to ‘level 2+’.

According to Bloomberg sources Apple recently postponed the release of its first EV again, this time to ‘2028 at the earliest’. In the most recent forecast, from the end of 2022, Apple still hoped for a release in 2026. The tech giant then wanted a car with ‘advanced features’. for autonomous driving’ for use on highways.

According to Gurman, Apple’s board concluded during recent meetings that the company is unable to deliver a car with such features in the foreseeable future. The tech giant has never reached a formal prototype stage with the project to date, according to Gurman, although it has had plans to enter the automotive market since 2014.

According to the sources, Apple has therefore decided to scale back its ambitions for autonomous driving to level 2+. The car must therefore provide assistance with steering, accelerating and braking, although a person remains primarily responsible and must pay attention to the road during the entire journey. This is comparable to, for example, Tesla’s current self-driving functions.

The tech giant wanted to launch a car with level 4 autonomous driving, which allows the car to drive completely independently in certain circumstances. The company previously hoped for level 5, which would allow the car to go anywhere and drive independently without any human input, regardless of conditions, Gurman said. The company initially hoped to make a car without a steering wheel or pedals, although according to the news agency it backtracked on that at the end of 2022.

According to the journalist, Apple hopes to later release an updated system with level 4 autonomy after an initial release. The tech giant is said to be currently in talks with manufacturing companies in Europe to discuss the new strategy.

The American tech giant has been working on its own electric car for years. The project, internally codenamed Titan and T172, began taking shape in 2014. However, in recent years the project has seen several rounds of layoffs and several bosses leaving. For example, in 2021, Doug Field left. Before working at Apple, he worked on the Tesla Model 3, among other things. Field left to work on EVs at Ford.

2024-01-23 20:19:34
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