The Apple Car has been in the news for more than 10 years. The famous Titan project would now occupy 1,000 people at Apple. Analyst Mark Gurman provides a ton of information on the timing, price and features of Apple’s upcoming car.
Bloomberg, and more precisely the famous Mark Gurman, published various information on the Apple Car. Yes, the project that has been at the heart of rumours, indiscretions, testimonies, gray information… for years. We have also summarized what there is to know about this project “ Titan in a folder.
No fully autonomous driving, at least not at first
This project is now the subject of new rumors. We thus learn that Apple would have decided not to put fully autonomous driving in its priorities, to give priority rather to the marketing of the vehicle. Previously, there was talk of a fully autonomous car with no steering wheel or pedals.
A significant change for the project, the company is now planning a less ambitious design that will include a steering wheel and pedals and only support fully autonomous capability on motorways, said our contacts, who asked not to be identified. because the information is private.
We are therefore talking about a classic car, but with modern driving aids, the famous level 2 of autonomous driving that we find in many manufacturers. It could be level 3, currently present at Mercedes with its S-Class and its EQS in Germany only.
Less than $100,000
Apple is reportedly planning to offer a full infotainment experience, where possible, like what Tesla does. We could thus watch a film or play a game – on a motorway rest area for example. Bloomberg sources claim that the launch has been postponed from 2025 to 2026 and the goal is to sell the vehicle for less than $100,000. Which would make it price less than a Model S sedan, for comparison. If we compare to previous rumors, we were talking about a vehicle at 120,000 dollars.
Obviously, Apple would plan to integrate its homemade ARM chipsabout four most powerful Mac chips in every car. At first glance, we are talking about four Apple M1 Ultra chips here. Apple would also consider using fewer chips so as not to significantly increase the cost of designing the car.
Information processing would also be done online, on Amazon AWS servers, at a budget of $125 million per year. This amount must be put into perspective in relation to the cost of the Titan project: 1 billion dollars per year.
1000 people dedicated to the Titan project
We know little official things about this Titan project, the team in charge of the project is estimated at 1000 people. According to Bloomberg, Apple aims to finalize the design of the car by 2023 and define the features by the end of 2024. Apple is reportedly planning to submit the car to extensive testing in 2025.
Apple is apparently still working on finding a partner to use an existing electric vehicle platform instead of developing his own. We also know that Apple has many veterans of the automotive industry working on this project.
The car’s design is led by Ulrich Kranz, the former CEO of Canoo, as well as former managers from Tesla, Lamborghini and Porsche. Software is led by former Tesla executive Stuart Bowers, while safety engineering, testing and regulatory issues are handled by former Ford executive Desi Ujkashevic.
Mark Gurman’s article is full of information, which should always be taken with a grain of salt of course. We have the image of a car very close to the operation of Tesla, with advanced remote control systems. Apple would also have the idea of setting up its own insurance system. Finally, the design would be far from being finalized.
To follow us, we invite you to download our Android and iOS application. You can read our articles, files, and watch our latest YouTube videos.