While the world awaits the release of the Apple car, and savvy Apple fanboys (and girls), hold out for the inevitable release of the “iCar Pro 6S” (gear shift sold separately), recent reports are providing details of what the company has not-so quietly been up to behind the scenes in the development of their automotive technology.
Apple says there is no car, which means there IS a car
Apple has not acknowledged that there is a vehicle in development. However, in September 2015, the Wall Street Journal confirmed the project, code-named “Titan,” and cited “people familiar with the matter” in a report that indicated that Apple would triple the 600-person team to meet a 2019 shipping date.
The Canadian Connection
Last week multiple reports emerged that Apple had leased some office space in Kanata, Ontario. The facility in the Kanata Research Park positions Apple to continue their poaching spree of automotive executives and experts from around the world. This time their aim is likely to be employees of Blackberry’s QNX Software Systems division, which unveiled prototypes of its autonomous vehicle technology at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this year.
The Poach List
Potential poaching targets at QNX would join an illustrious list of industry experts who have already joined “Project Titan” from around the world including engineers from Tesla, Toyota, and A123, which develops batteries for electric vehicles. The battery maker went as far as filing a complaint that Apple “aggressively” sought out its employees and accused five former employees of violating the terms of their contract.
Features
While no visuals have emerged at this point, German website Manager Magazin reports that Apple has investigated building the vehicle on BMW’s i3 platform. If true, that’s terrible news for gearheads hoping for a supercar that would automatically post selfies to Instagram, but you can be hopeful that once Johnny Ive, Apple's Chief Design Officer, puts his signature on it, Apple's creation will look a lot more attractive than what BMW sent to market.
2014 BMW i3, image courtesy of BMW
Apple CEO Tim Cook has visited the production facilities for the i3 and some tech reports even suggest the car would be sold and serviced through BMW. If an Apple-branded i3 doesn’t get you excited, and it most definitely should not, then having BMW sell and service the car should at least make the process of purchasing an Apple car less of a pain. Unless Apple decides to brand their technicians “Geniuses” and force you to make an appointment weeks in advance for a software update.
If you were hoping to sit back and binge-watch a few episodes of House of Cards while Siri drives you home, it doesn’t appear that will happen either as most reports indicate that Apple’s first vehicle will not be autonomous.
When can I line up to buy it?
Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche spoke to German newspaper Welt am Sonntag about a recent trip to Silicon Valley. While remaining coy on the details, Dieter said that Apple and Google “can do more and know more than we had previously assumed.”
Pair that revelation with reports that Apple has been scouting test track facilities in the San Fransisco Bay area. GoMentum Station owner Randy Iwasaki told the Guardian “they’ve come in and they’re interested.”
We know more about unicorns than the Apple car, but evidence suggests the latter will be smugly zipping around North American roads making Prius owners feel inferior within the next 5 years.
