Apple’s eagerly anticipated Apple Car could enter manufacturing by 2024 or 2025, and benefit from breakthrough new battery technology, a new report claims.
Citing people familiar with the matter, Reuters suggests that this new battery design is “central” to Apple’s strategy. It could “radically” reduce the cost of batteries, while also greatly increasing the Apple Car’s range.
Apple Car Could Use Manufacturing Partners
The report goes on to note that Apple has designed its own battery technology for the new car.
It is also reportedly working with outside manufacturing partners to build LiDAR sensors, the bounced light laser-sensing tech used by some autonomous vehicles to enable them to get a three-dimensional view of the road around them.
The vehicle may boast multiple LiDAR sensors so as to be able to scan different distances. These LiDAR components could build on work Apple has carried out internally involving the technology. Both the iPhone 12 Pro and current-gen iPad Pro use LiDAR sensors.
Reuters’ report says that, while a physical Apple Car is still the plan, there remains a chance that the project could be reduced in scope to become an autonomous driving system integrated in another carmaker’s vehicles, rather than its own vehicle.
“If there is one company on the planet that has the resources to [build something like this], it’s probably Apple. But at the same time, it’s not a cellphone,” said one person reported to have worked on the Apple Car project.
Apple Car Has Been in the Works Since 2014
Apple has reportedly been working on its Apple Car project, codenamed Project Titan, since 2014. Progress has been uneven since then. Apple started designing its own vehicle from the ground up, only to later pull back and begin focusing more on the autonomous driving software.
Former Apple employee Doug Field, who has also worked at Tesla, took control of the project in 2018. One year later, 190 people on the team were laid off. Most recently, the Apple Car project was moved under the leadership of John Giannandrea, an ex-Google employee who now heads up Apple’s AI efforts. Field, who is Apple VP of Special Projects, reports to Giannandrea.
With Apple being the secretive company that it is, it would be highly surprising if it shares details of the Apple Car until it’s almost ready to ship. But reports such as this one make clear that this is still a very active line of enquiry for Apple—even if it’s not yet clear what the final form of Apple Car will be.
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