Although the firm does not communicate on this subject, we know that, for years, Apple has been working on an electric (and autonomous?) car project. The press has taken to calling this project Apple Car, although for the moment, obviously, no brand has yet been presented.
Unfortunately, for Apple, his project would be floundering. In December, we relayed a Bloomberg publication according to which the team responsible for developing the Cupertino company’s electric car would face a wave of departures.
Apple Car: dissolution and reorganization?
And this week, new information is circulating on the web. According to a post from MacRumours, which relays a tweet that would have been written by the famous analyst Ming Chi Kuo, Apple would have “disbanded” its Apple Car team.
This, however, would not mark the end of the project. According to this source, this team would have already been dissolved for some time and a “reorganization in the next three to six months is necessary to achieve the mass production target by 2025.”
Apple hasn’t publicly set a goal for its electric car project. However, according to rumors, the firm would like to launch the product in 2025.
In November, Bloomberg wrote that Apple would have had two options: develop an electric vehicle with some autonomous features, or develop 100% autonomous vehicles requiring no human intervention.
This is the second option that would have been chosen by the new leader of the Apple automotive team, Kevin Lynch. And the objective would be to market this electric and autonomous vehicle from 2025.
At the time, Apple would have been encouraged by the progress of the development of the chip which will be the brain of its future autonomous vehicle. This would have been developed by the Apple Silicon team, but not by the engineers of the Apple Car project. Bloomberg had nevertheless added that the company remains flexible with regard to this objective of having a product on the market as early as 2025.
Future competitor of Tesla (and Xiaomi)?
Of course, for the moment, this information is still to be considered with caution. But in any case, although Apple is still very discreet about its automotive projects, Elon Musk already seems to consider the Cupertino company as a competitor.
Also, sometimes, the boss of Tesla launches spades against the manufacturer of the iPhone. For example, in 2021, Musk openly criticized iOS’s closed system as well as the batteries used by Apple products. Tesla also launched a whistle at 50 dollars, in order to make fun of the overpriced rag of the Apple brand.
Also remember in the automotive sector, Apple should face competition from Xiaomi. Unlike Apple, the Chinese smartphone maker has already formalized its automotive plans. And it could produce up to 300,000 electric cars per year from 2024.