- The company’s major strategy is now to design batteries for the cars, which could lower the prices of batteries and escalate the range of the vehicle.
- The biggest challenge the company will face is the supply chain operation because it has never made a car, and hence the technical know-how is less.
Cupertino based tech giant Apple is aiming to unleash the much-awaited self-driving car technology and also eyeing to launch a new passenger vehicle by the end of 2024. The car would be furnished with Apple’s in-house battery technology, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Dubbed as Project Titan, Apple’s automotive plans began back in 2014 and since then, it commenced designing its vehicle from scratch. Initially, at some point in time, the company focused only on the software and started researching on it. Apple past master Doug Field again joined the company in 2018 to spearhead the project but terminated 190 workers from his team in 2019.
Apple is now in a better position to unleash a vehicle for the consumer, said sources. The sources also added that the iPhone maker is planning a consumer vehicle in contrast with its rival such as Alphabet Inc’s Waymo that has launched driver-less robo-taxis for the consumers.
The iPhone maker’s major strategy is now to design batteries for the cars, which could lower the prices of batteries and escalate the range of vehicles, according to another anonymous source who has witnessed Apple’s design of batteries, claims Reuters.
Apple declined to comment on this project officially. According to experts, the biggest challenge the company will face is the supply chain operation because it has never made a car, and hence the experience will be less. For a bigger car maker like Elon Musk’s Tesla, it took 17 years for them to make a successful car.
An ex-source of Project Titan said, “If there is one company on the planet that has the resources to do that, it’s probably Apple. But at the same time, it’s not a cellphone.”
The point to be noted is that as of now, it is still unclear who will manufacture or assemble Apple-branded cars, but sources claimed that Apple would rely on its manufacturing partner to do the same. Another two sources familiar with the matter said because of the ongoing pandemic the work could be delayed by 2025 or beyond.
Trip Miller, a managing partner at Apple investor Gullane Capital Partners, said exclusively to Reuters, “It would seem to me that if Apple develops some advanced operating system or battery technology, it would be best utilized in a partnership with an existing manufacturer under license. As we see with Tesla and the legacy auto companies, having a very complex manufacturing network around the globe doesn’t happen overnight.”
