Apple Car: It’s no secret, that Apple’s actively working on Car tech

Apple has been at the forefront of innovative tech design for many years as we all know. The company is famous for its sleek mobile phone, computer and tablet designs, now the tech giant has decided to venture into a different playground; automobile manufacturing.

In 2014, Apple began working on “Project Titan,” (the Apple car) with upwards of 1,000 car experts and engineers developing an electric vehicle at a secret location near the company’s Cupertino headquarters.
The Apple Car project has shifted and changed multiple times over the course of the last several years due to internal strife and leadership issues, but development is on track. Though in 2016, rumours suggested Apple had shelved plans for a car, by 2020, it was back on. The patent for the car was filed by Apple and there are talks that it will feature a mono cell battery, self-driving, and even a VR entertainment system. According to the patent, the VR entertainment system will incorporate the vibrations and bumps from the car.
As Apple has no experience with car manufacturing, it will need partners to produce the vehicle, and Apple is said to be working on securing partnerships in the automobile industry. It is not yet known who Apple will work with, but it has held discussions with Hyundai. However, Hyundai later revealed that the discussions with Apple had ended before February 2021. Nissan has since approached Apple with interest in manufacturing the Apple car. At this point, we don’t really know which automobile company Apple will partner with.

The Apple Car has been described as Apple’s “next star product” with Apple able to offer “better integration of hardware, software and services” than potential competitors in the automotive market. The Apple Car is likely to be marketed as a “very high-end” model or “significantly higher” than a standard electric vehicle. The original vision of an “Apple Car” that would detect its driver via fingerprint and then drive them anywhere had transitioned from a partially autonomous car to something more ambitious. However, another factor that may have pulled Apple away from its car is the automotive supply chain. While Apple is used to being able to exert heavy control over suppliers for devices like the iPhone, the company may have discovered that auto parts makers would be less eager to commit to an “Apple Car,” given the deeper expenses involved, and Apple is likely producing vehicles in small initial numbers.

Apple Car price

Low prices and Apple aren’t synonymous. Apple products aren’t low quality, so elevated prices are expected, no matter the Apple-branded item. It’s safe to assume their self-driving electric vehicle will follow suit and cost a pretty penny. The only way to price the vehicle this far ahead of its release is to look at what other companies are doing. The price for luxury vehicles from competition like Tesla and Lucid Motors ranges widely, depending on the features you want the car to have.

Between just those two, you’re looking at anywhere from around $40,000 (N20,000,000) to $170,000 (N70,000,000).
Apple is aiming to launch its autonomous car by 2025, but given the ambitious nature of the project, it might not make that target date or could ultimately see the project delayed.