Apple's rumored electric (autonomous?) vehicle, internally referred to as Project Titan, should use custom-designed batteries developed by engineers that Apple poached from A123 Systems, the makers of advanced batteries. According to a new report Tuesday, Apple has now tapped scientists and engineers from a small, unnamed South Korean firm to help co-develop hollow battery packs for Project Titan.
Apple's rumored electric vehicle project has shifted its focus towards autonomous driving systems although that shouldn't be interpreted as Apple abandoning efforts to design its own vehicle, Bloomberg reported today.
After bringing former hardware chief Bob Mansfield back from retirement to run its Project Titan initiative, Apple has now hired BlackBerry and Ford talent to help perfect its secret self-driving software.
Following a report last week alleging that Apple's rumored electric vehicle project was internally delayed after its lead Steve Zadesky left in January 2016 for personal reasons, The Wall Street Journal is reporting today that Apple's enlisted help of its retired hardware chief Bob Mansfield, who will now oversee development of Project Titan.
Former Wall Street Journal reporter Jessia Lessin's outlet, The Information, this morning ran a story behind a paywall claiming that Apple's tentative 2020 launch target for a rumored autonomous electric vehicle may have slipped until 2021. Project Titan, as it's code-named, “has run into challenges” after its top executive left in January, as per sources.
In yet another indication that Apple's secretive electric vehicle effort, dubbed Project Titan, isn't just a pipe dream, Reuters said in a report this morning that recent hirings have revealed Apple's interest in exploring the technology behind charging stations for electric vehicles while hinting that it could consider engineering a similar technology.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on Tuesday granted Apple a patent that could be a perfect fit for Project Titan, its not-so-secretive electric car project.
The proposed invention outlines an advanced vehicle access control system that would permit an iPhone to do things like open your car doors, start or shut off the engine for specific time frames and for specific duration of time, adjust and activate personalized car settings and more.
“The feature set described in this invention went far beyond anything that could have been conceived working with CarPlay,” explains Patently Apple, which first caught wind of the granted patent.
The Wall Street Journal yesterday shared some rather interesting development regarding Silicon Valley's worst-kept secret, an Apple-designed electric car, dubbed Project Titan. The firm is apparently seeking a massive 800,000 square foot warehouse, presumably to keep research and development work on Project Titan secret for as long as possible.
Furthermore, the iPhone maker is said to be in the process of expanding Project Titan team, which reportedly had about 600 employees last year, according to sources.
German newspaper Handelsblatt is reporting that German carmakers Daimler and BMW won't be collaborating with Apple on its rumored electric car, code-named Project Titan.
According to sources in the know, talks with Daimler and BMW over a cooperation deal on an electric car have ended. The talks with BMW collapsed last yea.
Those with Daimler have ended more recently, reportedly over the key questions like would lead the project and which company would have ownership of the data. Neither of the three companies would even confirm that negotiations had taken place.
Influential German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung this morning ran a story on Apple's rumored electric car, code-named Project Titan, claiming that the iPhone maker is running a secret vehicle research and development lab in the heart of Berlin.
Apple's 15-20 person “top class” team at the site is mostly comprised of engineers hired away from several German car manufacturers, who are described as “progressive thinkers” in their respective fields. The report adds that Apple is said to be planning to use Austria-based automotive contract manufacturer Magna to build its electric vehicle.
Don't expect the Apple Car to start hitting stores anytime soon, says Tim Cook. During Apple's annual shareholders meeting on Friday, the CEO responded to a question regarding the rumored vehicle, suggesting the project is far from launching.
Business Insider has Cook's full response from the Q&A session: "Do you remember when you were a kid, and Christmas Eve it was so exciting, you weren't sure what was going to be downstairs? Well, it's going to be Christmas Eve for a while."
Apple is losing long-time veteran and VP of Product Design Steve Zadesky, reports The Wall Street Journal. Zadesky has been with the company for 16 years, where he worked on the iPhone and iPod, and most recently spearheaded its ambitious automobile efforts.
Apple has registered a handful of rather interesting domain names within the last few weeks. As noted by MacRumors, the company purchased three top-level domain names in December including apple.car, apple.cars and apple.auto, through sponsored registrar MarkMonitor.
The acquisitions only posted on Whois this morning, and they aren't active yet, but given the ongoing chatter regarding Apple's secret car project, they do arouse curiosity. There's certainly a precedent of the firm purchasing domain names for rumored projects: iCloud and iPhone 4.