Apple Car Expectations: Release Date, Price, And Rumors

Despite never officially confirming its intentions to build a car, Apple has been working on its secretive "Project Titan" for almost a decade now. Exactly what the project entails is still unclear, especially since there's been a steady stream of sometimes conflicting rumors from various sources over the years. However, what has been confirmed is that Apple has considered the possibility of entering the car industry with a self-driving car, and by some accounts, may have a finished product ready to launch to customers by 2026.

The road to a potential Apple car has been a rocky one, and the project has reportedly undergone several direction changes as a result of management disagreements and development setbacks. As any startup carmaker knows all too well, the difference between designing a car and actually putting it into production is night and day, and even though the rumor mill gives some idea of Apple's current plans, it's possible that they might change again before the long-awaited car ever becomes a reality. For now, though, here's everything we know about Apple's biggest project since the iPhone.

If the years of rumors about Apple's first car are to be believed, the project has suffered from a lack of direction. This has impacted the development process. Every year, the leaks have indicated a slightly different vision for what the finished product would look like. Initially, the plans suggested that a fully autonomous electric car was in the works. However, in a 2017 interview with Bloomberg, CEO Tim Cook confirmed Apple was developing "autonomous systems" for cars, but stopped short of saying an actual car was in development. Notably, he called the development "the mother of all AI projects," and stressed that self-driving cars were only "one purpose" of what these systems could be used for.

A report by The Information claimed that the initial Apple car design featured four seats that face each other and a curved roof like a Volkswagen Beetle. There were reportedly plans to get an exemption from the NHTSA so that the car could ship without a steering wheel or pedals. However, these plans soon ran into trouble, not least because the all-important autonomous driving system that the car relied on wasn't quite as capable as the company had initially hoped.

Volkswagen isn't the only manufacturer to have had its name bandied about in the Apple rumor mill, only to shut down those rumors shortly after. Hyundai also confirmed it was no longer working with the Cupertino-based company in 2021, after announcing that both firms had held talks only a month earlier. This was reportedly down to disagreements over Hyundai's status in the partnership, as the South Korean automaker wanted to be seen as an equal partner, but Apple reportedly wanted it to serve as a supplier, much like Foxconn, the maker of the iPhone.

BMW also flirted with the idea of licensing parts of its i3 electric car to Apple in the early days of Project Titan, but much like Hyundai, backed out over its unwillingness to be seen as a parts supplier to a big tech company. Incidentally, the BMW executive overseeing initial talks was Herbert Diess, who now serves as Volkswagen's CEO and recently played down the suggestion that Apple was still looking to develop its own car.

Apple has proved its dedication to Project Titan over the years by poaching many senior engineers and executives from other companies, but it hasn't had things all its own way. Apple bought Drive.ai, a self-driving car startup on the verge of bankruptcy in 2019, but chose not to keep many of its engineers, instead keeping its assets and intellectual property. Many of those engineers, in turn, went to work for one of Apple's rivals. Around the same time, Jony Ive, one of the company's most prolific product designers and a close collaborator with Steve Jobs, left Apple after becoming disillusioned with the company. Ive also reportedly had close links with the car project, although his exact role was never disclosed.

Titan's project lead Doug Field was then headhunted by Ford in 2021, taking his considerable expertise with him, having previously worked as a Senior Vice President at Tesla. Later that year, Michael Schwekutsch, another former senior Tesla engineer specializing in powertrains, left Apple for a flying taxi startup. With many of the key figures involved in Project Titan departing for rivals, perhaps it's no surprise that the project has seen so many reported changes of direction over the years.

In the years since Apple first launched its electric self-driving car ambitions, the automotive industry has changed immensely. Plenty of startups have attempted a similar formula to Apple's original plan, promising a mix of electrification and self-driving tech, and Tesla has expanded from a promising newcomer into one of the industry's most influential players. Bloomberg reported in late 2022 that Apple's plans had been scaled back once again, and although a car was still planned, it wouldn't be fully autonomous.

It was also reported that the car would retail for under $100,000, pitting it against an increasingly wide field of EV rivals, and that it wouldn't be released until 2026. That's a significant departure from the initial plans for Project Titan, and it's worth noting that, even if the report is accurate, plans may well change again before the car is actually unveiled. For now, though, it remains to be seen exactly what innovations Apple will debut to make the car stand out from its competitors — and it will need to stand out, given how many EVs from both major carmakers and startups are set to launch between now and 2026. That is, if the long-awaited car does in fact make it to customers in the end.