Apple’s autonomous car project is perhaps one of the most perplexing tales in the tech industry – of a scenario where the Cupertino giant set out to develop a self-driving car, released a few patents for vehicles with tank treads, and ultimately abandoned the project.
According to a new report by analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple is said to be reorganizing its autonomous car division to achieve a 2025 launch of an electric vehicle.
The Apple Car project team has been dissolved for some time. The reorganization within the next three to six months is necessary to achieve the goal of mass production by 2025.
— 郭明錤 (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) March 15, 2022
The project itself was first put to paper in 2014 and was ultimately thought dead in 2019, where the company appeared to dissolve its development teams after patenting a number of concepts surrounding the eventual vehicle. Ultimately, the company has never publicly disclosed that it is developing an autonomous car despite its interest in technologies such as CarPlay.
Google, on the other hand, has actively stretched into new partnerships with automakers with Android Automotive, a software solution that sees Google’s tendrils touch and control vehicle parts and features – such as climate control, for example.
It remains to be seen whether Apple will reach its ambitious goal and exactly what form the final product will take.
