Apple’s plans to build a self-driving vehicle are more than just rumors. “Project Titan,” as it’s been dubbed internally, has been well documented (if not acknowledged officially) since 2014, and while the venture to build an Apple Car has been helmed by some of the company’s top talent, we’ve yet to see even a single official concept.
Negotiations between Apple and two Chinese suppliers of lithium ion batteries have stalled according to a recent Reuters report. The breakdown was spurred by a refusal from CATL and BYD to set up North American plants, and while the negotiations could resume, the breakdown represents just another hurdle for Apple’s long road to bringing an Apple Car to fruition.
Apple’s car project has been hemorrhaging talent. One of the biggest losses is the transition of Doug Field, a former Tesla and Ford executive who left his post in September to return to Ford — which is conveniently a growing competitor in the electric vehicle space. In Field’s place is Kevin Lynch, a longtime Apple employee who previously oversaw software effort for the Apple Watch.
While reports this year suggested Apple and Hyundai would partner up to achieve its plan of making the tech giant’s first ever vehicle, in February Hyundai put a hard stop to those rumors, telling investors outright that the company, “is not having talks with Apple on developing autonomous vehicles." In any case, it appears Apple might be having trouble courting manufacturing partners — likely not the warm welcome Apple had hoped for.
Another blockade for Apple’s car plans will be the sheer amount of competition in the self-driving electric vehicles space. Tesla obviously has a major head start while Google continues to make progress with its self-driving Waymo taxis. By the time Apple is theoretically ready to put rubber to the road, who knows what the landscape will look like.
Apple’s longtime iPhone supply partner Foxconn recently took the wraps off of several of its own electric vehicles. If you’re an optimist, its foray into EVs infers that Apple might have a future supply hub for its self-driving vehicle, if you’re a skeptic, however, it means that Foxconn is pressing forward with its own plan independent of Apple. One thing is for sure, Foxconn definitely appears to have a leg up in the market.