Apple: Bloomberg: Apple planning to launch its own car by the year 2020

Bloomberg: Apple planning to launch its own car by the year 2020

Apple’s car team

Apple is pushing to launch its own electric car by the year 2020, according to a new Bloomberg report citing “people with knowledge of the matter.” The company has been rumored in recent weeks to be working on the project in secret, with some claiming that Tim Cook authorized it as much as a year ago.
Apple has been poaching employees from Tesla Motors, battery technology manufacturers, and elsewhere in an effort to build a team of experts to work on the vehicle, currently codenamed “Titan.” Whether this car will be a self-driving vehicle is still unknown, with some reports claiming that it will and others contradicting that idea. Apple employees have said, however, that it will “give Tesla a run for its money” when it’s released.

We may have already seen some technology prototypes rolling through New York, San Francisco, and other major cities in recent monthsâ€"though the vehicles spotted in those areas could possibly be related to a separate mapping project.
2020 is an ambitious goal for this project, giving Apple just six years to learn (or buy) everything it needs to know about building a vehicle. That’s where the recent hiring spree and the past year of team-building come into play, but whether that alone will be enough to push Titan to market just five years from now remains to be seen.
Bloomberg highlights the fact that competitors like Tesla are already aiming to debut sub-$40,000 electric cars capable of getting 200 miles per charge by 2017, giving them a three-year lead on Apple. It won’t be the first time the Cupertino company has been a little late to the party, but with this being the farthest thing from consumer electronics the company has ever attempted, such a lead could give competitors a bigger edge than with previous Apple releases.

Revealed: The experts Apple hired to build an electric car

Apple reportedly poached employees from A123 Systems to work on battery tech, now faces unfair competition lawsuit

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1. Shameer Mulji (@shameermulji) says: Interesting that we haven’t heard anything from the NYT yet.
   
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   • Mike Beasley says: NYT confirmed our own reporting tonight.
     
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2. Jacob Swanson says: This just doesn’t make any sense. Apple refuses to make bigger iPads in the name of “focus”. Now they’re building cars?? What’s next an Apple clothing line? What happened to a “thousand no’s for every yes”?
   
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   • rogifan says: I thought a larger iPad was coming out this year.
     
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     • Shameer Mulji (@shameermulji) says: That is the rumor. Funny how a supposed product that’s like five years away is getting more teeth than one that’s supposedly out later this year
       
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3. rogifan says: Ok now we’re getting into absurd territory. It took Apple 3+ years to do the Watch and we’re supposed to believe they’re going to do an EV in 5 years? Hogwash.
   
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   • o0smoothies0o says: you suggested this wasn’t happening and there was little to no evidence it was. There’s actually overwhelming evidence now. The thing you need to keep in mind is that we have next to zero details about the project, other than they’re working on an electric vehicle. That said, it has been rumored that Cook approved a team of 1000 people. Since none of us know how many people were working on the Watch, other than Jony Ive specifically stating it was a ‘relatively small team’, you can’t compare the two in any way. I’d say they’re using a tremendous amount of people for this project.
     
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   • Shameer Mulji (@shameermulji) says: That’s five years from NOW. That doesn’t mean they just started the project. If you believe the rumors this project was started a little over a year ago.
     
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4. Dan Exby (@dan_exby) says: The development cycle for existing automakers is 5 years. And Apple who has never built a car and has been hiring battery specialists is going to design and build one in 5 years… sure.
   By far the most ridiculous prediction ever.
   Pretty soon we’ll start hearing that Foxconn has won the contract to start building the transmissions that Apple has designed…
   Is Apple developing some battery technology? Sure. Is Apple looking at self driving technology? Sure. But to just go off and build a car in 5 years. Nope.
   
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