Apple is apparently accelerating its efforts to build an electric car. A report claims that Cupertino has set a target shipping date of 2019 for the project, although that sounds extremely optimistic for a company that does not have any prior experience building cars.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the leaders of Project Titan, as Apple’s supposed vehicular project is known, have been given permission to triple the 600-man team. The company has brought on experts in autonomous cars to help with the project, but it appears that Apple’s first car will still require a human to operate it.
It is almost completely certain that Apple is working on a vehicle of some sort, as the company has been speaking to California’s Department of Motor Vehicles and a secure vehicle testing site. Both of these meeting were confirmed due to publicly available records, which has made Apple’s traditional attempts at secrecy completely futile.
What the final product of Apple’s efforts will look like is still unknown. Earlier rumours anticipated a mini-van style vehicle, but that does not quite sound like something that Apple would invest in. There is also the question of who will manufacture the vehicles for Apple. Cupertino does not make a significant portion of its products; which stands in stark contrast with the practice of traditional motoring companies who all own their own factories.
There is still a chance that Apple may decide to manufacture its own cars, but that would require it to set up an entire facility to cater to the effort. Vehicle manufacturing plants are not easy to set up, and the ship date of 2019 may mean that Apple intends to contract out the work like it does with the iPhone. However, that only raises the question of who will end up building the Apple car.
[Source: Wall Street Journal]
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