There are widespread rumors that Apple is working on a self-driving car, called “Project Titan”. Apple reportedly began working on the project in 2014, and years later the rumor mill is in full swing, speculating as to when Apple will launch its self-management technology. Speculation has grown to such an extent that potential competitors of an Apple Car already weigh their potential threat to the overall automotive industry.
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As reported by Reuters Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess said today that he was “not afraid” of “Apple Car” and that Apple would not be able to surpass the $ 2 trillion car industry overnight. In a typical Apple way, the company has not confirmed that it is working on a self-driving car, but Diess believes the rumors and reports are ‘logical’. Apple has expertise in battery technology, software and design and can easily use all of its skills in that area to create a car, the CEO said.
Similar remarks can be traced back to 2006, one year before the launch of the iPhone, when the CEO of Palm, which at the time was one of the leading smartphone makers, said that Apple would not “just notice it”. on smartphones. In the following years, the iPhone would captivate the market and eventually lead to a revenue of $ 65 billion for a single quarter.
Volkswagen, based in Germany, is one of the largest car manufacturers in Europe and around the world, giving it a significant dominance over the industry. Diess said he was not worried that Apple joining the market would disrupt Volkswagen’s dominance and said that despite Apple’s expertise in all the technology needed to create a car, its company was still ‘not afraid. ‘and that Apple will not be able to disrupt it. the market overnight.
Until this year, very little was known about how Apple would go about building a truly self-driving car. Apple uses third-party vendors like TSMC and Foxconn to build current products like the iPhone and Mac, but none of its current vendors are fully capable of building a car. At the forefront, Apple is expected to partner with an already well-known and established automaker to realize its ambitions for self-driving cars.
In early January, reports began to appear that Apple was close to a deal with Hyundai, after the carmaker issued a statement confirming that it was in talks with the technology giant. The statement was quickly revoked and renamed to exclude mentions from Apple, and since then it has been reported that talks between Hyundai and Apple have come to a standstill.
Several sources have suggested different time frames for the launch of the Apple Car, with the earliest report suggesting that it should be released as early as 2024. Bloombergbelieves, however, that the car ‘is nowhere near a production stage’ and that the release is at least five to seven years away.