Apple has been rumoured to be working on its own car for years (eons?) now. For some time, it was also reported that the company had ditched the idea of building a car. However, a report from Reuters, suggests that the tech company is once again planning to sell its own car in the market.
The codename for the Apple car was Project Titan with rumours having begun to fly around since 2014. The project was reportedly headed by Apple’s former head of hardware engineering Bob Mansfield who took up a smaller role in day-to-day operations starting 2013. Another report which surfaced two weeks ago, suggested that the car project is now being headed by Artificial Intelligence (AI) chief John Giannandrea.
Project Titan is back!
The current reports say that Apple has once again given a green signal to car projects. One of the reports also says that the project is now a “top priority”. It’s unclear whether Apple is certain of building a car in the near future or is just conducting a ground test to decide whether or not to.
Between 2014 and 2019, Apple had reportedly faced many internal issues with its Project Titan car team. Last year, it was reported that the team working on Apple Car was dismantled and as a result 190 employees were laid off.
According to Reuters, Apple is planning to start producing its first car by 2024. Given the current trend, the car will of course be an electric car, similar to Tesla’s fleet but reportedly will feature “next level” battery tech. It took 17 years for Tesla to start making any sort of profit.
“If there is one company on the planet that has the resources to do that, it’s probably Apple. But at the same time, it’s not a cellphone,” said an Apple employee who had worked on Project Titan, according to Reuters.