All the Rumors About the Apple Car Worth Paying Attention To

You may have noticed that reports linking Apple to some kind of smart-car project have been increasing in recent days. We’ve heard rumors about a so-called iCar (That won’t be what it’s called, don’t worry.) before, but over the weekend, a new batch sprang up. The written speculation of an Apple automobile has been aided by pictures and videos that began circulating on the Internet last week of camera- and sensor-loaded minivans registered to the company based in Cupertino, Calif.

Could Tim Cook’s Apple finally be putting the pedal to the metal on a self-driving Apple car? And if so, are these mysterious minivans some type of test model?

Here’s everything that’s been reported so far about the notoriously tight-lipped company’s foray into the automobile industry.

Apple has been hiring bushels of car industry professionals

On Feb. 9, Business Insider published quotes from an alleged Apple employee who says many were “jumping ship” from Tesla to come work on Apple’s new “vehicle development” team.

On Friday, the Financial Times wrote that Apple has recruited the head of Mercedes-Benz’s Silicon Valley research and development, and that design chief Jony Ive has been trying to bring even more automotive industry executives to Apple.

CarPlay (Photo: Courtesy of Apple)

Apple released its CarPlay in-dash infotainment system software last year, but the recent increase in automotive industry hires could suggest something bigger is on the way. Why else would the company poach so many automotive executives, the theory goes.

People close to Apple say it’s building an electric car

The Financial Times spoke with an individual who has worked closely with Apple and believes that an electric car is what the company’s hiring spree is all about.

“Three months ago, I would have said it was CarPlay,” the Financial Times source said of Apple’s reported automotive project. “Today, I think it’s a car.”

A Wall Street Journal article on Friday claims that, according to its own people familiar with Apple’s inner workings, the company is indeed currently developing an “Apple-branded electric vehicle” that “resembles a minivan.”

The project goes by the name “Titan,” according to the Wall Street Journal.

“Apple often investigates technologies and potential products, going as far as building multiple prototypes for some things that it won’t ever sell,” the report states. “But the size of the project team and the senior people involved indicate that the company is serious, these people said.”

Will it be self-driving? Yes… unless it isn’t

The Wall Street Journal reported that “a self-driving car is not part of Apple’s current plan.” One day later, Reuters wrote that Apple is, in fact, exploring automated driving technologies.

Google’s self-driving car. (Google)

A response piece by The Verge estimates that neither report needs to be read as mutually exclusive, and that Apple is more likely to be building a car that offers some automative driving functionality.

“We’re still many years away from a production car that can reliably (and legally) navigate urban environments, crowded intersections, and complex city traffic patterns in all weather,” The Verge’s Chris Ziegler writes. “It would be a shock if Apple aimed for that level of autonomy with version one, but it would be equally surprising if it came to market without the modern basics like pre-collision.”

Mysterious, high-tech, Apple-leased minivans spotted on the streets

Before the Wall Street Journal reported that Apple was working on an electric car that resembles a minivan, 9to5Mac posted pictures of a peculiar looking Dodge minivan loaded with sensors and cameras that was found to be registered to Apple.

The Apple news publication surmised that the vehicle, of which more have been spotted since, is likely for the purposes of collecting Google Map-like street view imaging.

Photo: 9to5Mac

Oft-cited technology analyst Rob Enderle told CBS that he believes the minivan pictured is a self-driving car prototype, saying it has “too many cameras [to be a mapping car],” and that its cameras are “angled down at all four corners of the vehicle.”

9to5Mac has pointed out that Google’s street view cameras, in fact, pack more than what is believed to be on the Apple-registered minivans. Others still contest that the cameras could be used for autonomous driving.

It has also been reported that Apple has not registered a self-driving vehicle in California, the state in which the first mysterious minivan was spotted.

Here’s what Apple’s people have said

Never mind the usual “no comment” Apple gives to publications after they inquire about rumors: The company’s top names may have tipped us off to its automotive ambitions with their own words.

Apple CEO Tim Cook told Charlie Rose in a September 2014 interview, “There are products that we’re working on that no one knows about … that haven’t been rumored about yet.” At the time, Cook couldn’t have been referencing the newly showcased iPhones, Apple Watch, or even the still hotly rumored iPad Pro. An Apple car, though, would fit the description.

A profile of Ive, Apple’s head designer, that will be released in the Feb. 23 issue of the New Yorker features Ive talking to the publication about being a “car guy” in a world that is seriously lacking well-designed modern vehicles.

“There are some shocking cars on the road,” he said. “One person’s car is another person’s scenery.”

Perhaps that will all change soon, Jony. Right?

Despite the rush of rumors, we are still pretty obviously a long way away (years, likely) from an Apple car. Don’t go selling your Maxima, in other words: If an Apple car really is coming, there’s plenty of road left to travel before it gets here.