For several months, Apple seemed to have shelved its ambitions to produce its own electric vehicle. Still, the project, internally titled Titan, is reportedly back on the agenda, Bloomberg says. According to people familiar with the matter, the company plans to launch a first model in 2026, give or take a year.
Goodbye autonomy level 5
The Apple Car is an idea in the tech giant’s boxes for a long time. Despite the reclassification of 200 people at the beginning of 2019, there are still a thousand people in the project. However, the American medium specifies that the fully autonomous driving functions will not be integrated into the first models as initially planned.
So goodbye to the dream of level 5 autonomous driving. Therefore, it will be necessary to have pedals and a steering wheel. Apple had envisioned being able to do without it by focusing on developing advanced artificial intelligence. Now self-driving capabilities are becoming more widespread again.
Thus, the current project provides for the design of a vehicle that allows its driver to watch a movie or play a video game. These amusements should be limited to highway use. If the car is approaching a city or in bad weather, it alerts the driver well in advance to revert to manual mode.
A direct competitor to Tesla or Mercedes
These devices are expected in the United States, starting with the commercialization of the Apple Car. Thereafter, generalization is expected, but it should require an additional period of innovation.
Bloomberg has learned that the price of Apple’s electric vehicle will be below the $100,000 mark. That’s less than early estimates of more than $120,000. This new price would make the model a direct competitor to the Tesla Model S or the Mercedes-Benz EQS.
Despite this new batch of information, there is still one unknown: its design. Based on Apple’s new roadmap, it should be ready by next year. Likewise, the technical characteristics would be announced at the end of 2024 before moving on to in-depth tests in 2025.
Source: BFM TV
