When it comes to creating new product niches, Apple has been no stranger to beating new paths and it now seems fairly certain that the iCar is the next frontier for the company. The iCar project is rumored to have berry approved by CEO Tim Cook in 2014 (it was envisaged by Steve Jobs in 2008) and is codenamed Titan.
Since then, Apple has been actively poaching some of the finest automotive industry talent, particularly from the research divisions of Fiat-Chrysler, Honda and Mercedes-Benz, as well as Volkswagen’s leading automated driving expert, Megan McClain, among other. Earlier this year,the company settled out of court with A-123 Systems, a high-endurance eclectic battery manufacturer, for allegedly poaching its employees and it is believed that Apple’s Titan team now includes over 600 engineers.
Further adding fuel to the fire, Carlos Tavares, CEO, Peugeot-Citroen announced that company was open to collaborating with Apple on the new car platform; rumor also has it that Apple ia trying to obtain approval in California to test its concept cars on public roads ans is in talks with high-security test track operators. The only other technology company to have this level of commitment to an automotive project is Google, which has a declared autonomous driving solution in the works.
Industry experts believe that once Apple has finalized the concept, it will either buy out a manufacturer such as Aston Martin or a start-up like Faraday Future, which would be in line with its model of making highly controlled, high-end luxury brands. Alternatively, it may contract out the manufacturing to companies such as lotus or McLaren, much like it did with Foxconn in Taiwan, which manufactures Apple’s iconic iPhones.
All these suggests that the iCar will be launched by 2019 . it is expected to be either be a compact or crossover utility vehicle (CUV) , all – electric and automated with ‘Level-3’ automation – an industry term for advanced automatic features including self-parking and traffic jam assistance.
By Tariq Zaid Khan