“Adding to rampant rumor and speculation surrounding Apple’s ‘Project Titan’ automotive initiative, a new report claims the company is operating a secret car lab out of Germany’s capital city tasked with imagining, and realizing, vehicles of the future,” AppleInsider reports.
“Citing sources familiar with the matter, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, better known as F.A.Z., reports Apple’s shadowy Berlin facility is staffed by about 15 to 20 ‘top-class'” employees from the German automotive industry,” AppleInsider reports. “While the report failed to mention names, the small team is comprised of young professionals with diverse backgrounds in engineering, software, hardware and sales.”
“The publication echoes previous rumors claiming Apple’s first car will be electric, but adds initial versions will lack self-driving capabilities, as such computer-assisted technology is still in development,” AppleInsider reports. “The report claims Apple will contract with Magna Steyr’s Austrian arm for final manufacturing. Identical claims were floated when ‘Apple Car’ rumors first gained traction in early 2015.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Make sense for Apple to go with the best. There’s nothing like German engineering.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Lynn Weiler” for the heads up.]
Apparently, the first Apple Car (iCar?) isn’t going to be a typical USA boat on four wheels. No surprise that they’re working closely with BMW. This is clearly a collaboration creation, not an Apple-only virgin attempt.
As for self-driving ‘smart cars’, despite all the hypity-hype, AI technology remains remarkably primitive. (Sorry Dr. Ray Kurzweil!) Be glad self-driving cars are NOT yet on the road. I still consider the Google self-driving car to be more a marketing ploy than anything close to imminent or useful.
Great way to do it.
Put some of that overseas cash to use, get a German automobile out if it, and you still get to stamp “Designed in California” into the door sill.
This headline is sort of funny when you know that the Berlin Apple Store and the Tesla Store being right next to each other!
They are across from each other in San Diego
One of the new Apple prototype cars was spotted in Berlin:
Yes, I also saw one of these in the wild, and immediately recognized it as an Apple product. Notice they decided to completely bypass battery technology altogether–that’s so old school Tesla–and instead have opted to go full-out green that includes the Reinheitsgebot. I’ve heard there will be various models–Pils, Dunkles, Weizen, with a Doppelbock being the power model. I’m pysched!
Ha! A friend just built one of these beer cars for use in local parades. Thank you!
Nothing like German engineering eh, strange then they have to come here to produce cutting edge F1 cars isn’t it.
The more likely situation is that Apple has a handful of integration labs that serve automakers in integrating CarPlay into the infotainment systems that carmakers are developing.
There is absolutely no business case for Apple to enter the car market itself, since the profit margin is slim and the overhead is high. And MDN conservatives would attack any company that took advantage of government grants or sales tax credits, which would absolutely be required for a low-volume premium-priced Apple car to compete against mass market competitors.