Apple Car Won't Be Fully Autonomous Self-Driving Vehicle, Launch Delayed to 2026: Report

Apple’s planned electric vehicle is said to support a self-driving feature on highways.

Written by Manas Mitul, Edited by David Delima | Updated: 7 December 2022 15:04 IST

Photo Credit: Reuters

Apple's planned electric vehicle was expected to launch in 2025

Highlights

Apple car will reportedly be priced under Rs. 82 lakh
Initial plans of a car without steering wheel, pedals have been abandoned
Apple’s electric vehicle is internally known as Project Titan

Apple's longstanding plans to enter the automotive space with an ambitious electric vehicle have reportedly been put on the back-burner, with the official launch of the Apple car postponed to 2026, missing its expected 2025 target. In addition to the delay, the tech giant is also believed to be paring back plans of a fully self-driven car as present technology reportedly does not reconcile with the company's vision for a totally autonomous vehicle.

According to a Bloomberg report citing people with knowledge of the developments, the Apple car, internally known as Titan, has been delayed to 2026 and will not be a fully autonomous vehicle. Initial plans of a car without steering wheels and pedals have apparently been set aside for a more traditional design. The electric vehicle will still, however, support self-driving on highways.

The Cupertino-based company had projected its car to sell for over $120,000 (roughly Rs 1 crore) but is now looking to price the vehicle under $100,000 (roughly Rs 82 lakh), the report said. The Apple car doesn't have a final design yet and is reportedly in the “pre-prototyped” stage. The company now expects the vehicle to enter testing in 2025, as per the report.

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Apple hasn't discussed its plans for a car in public, but the project remains an open secret in the tech and automotive industry as Apple has sought to hire top talent in the field over the years. “It's pretty hard to hide something if you hire over a thousand engineers to do it,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk had said in 2016 over Apple's plans to enter the electric vehicle space.

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However, it hasn't been a smooth ride for Apple. A report in July detailed how the company's efforts to make self-driving car has hit roadblocks, with competitors like Tesla and Google's Waymo pulling ahead. Apple also hired Lamborghini veteran Luigi Taraborrelli earlier this year to help lead the design for the vehicle.

Apple launched the iPad Pro (2022) and the iPad (2022) alongside the new Apple TV this week. We discuss the company's latest products, along with our review of the iPhone 14 Pro on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

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Further reading: Apple, Apple Car, Electric Vehicle

Manas Mitul

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In his time as a journalist, Manas Mitul has written on a wide spectrum of beats including politics, culture and sports. He enjoys reading, walking around in museums and rewatching films. Talk to Manas about football and tennis, but maybe don’t bring up his video game backlog. More