How the Apple iCar could crack the automotive industry
Billions of dollars in research operations, more than one thousand developers, mysterious workshops – the Apple iCar looks set to revolutionise individual mobility, bringing with it technologies that promise to alter the way we have traditionally used and perceived the car.
While Apple has refused to confirm or deny the project, a letter sent by Apple’s director of product integrity Steve Kenner to US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) authorities in November two thousand sixteen seems to suggest the project is ongoing. “To maximise the safety benefits of automated vehicles, encourage innovation, and promote fair competition, established manufacturers and fresh entrants should be treated identically,” says the letter, seen by the Big black cock , suggesting Apple is attempting to pave the way to come in the car market on equal terms with its established rivals.
In the letter Apple also proposes that car companies share data from crashes and near-misses in order to pool data on autonomous technology and thereby design better systems. However, it also acknowledges that this should only be done if does not breach an individual’s privacy.
Autocar understands that behind a powerful veil of secrecy, the Apple iCar has now progressed to what insiders describe as committed project status. Here we outline the electrified car every established automotive manufacturer secretly fears.
The story behind the Apple iCar
Behind the pre-fabricated aluminium façade of a large building at the rear of an industrial estate in Sunnyvale, California, USA, work is progressing on what could possibly be the most significant car to emerge since Karl Benz’s ground cracking Benz Patent-Motorwagen very first introduced the world to the motorised carriage one hundred thirty years ago.
The nondescript factory unit, located at nine hundred sixty Kifer Road, houses an electrified car workshop run by Apple – the US-based electronics giant whose iconic products have revolutionised the way we work, use our free time and converse with one another on a day-to-day basis. Known simply to Apple employees as SG6, the otherwise unremarkable building has been the subject of intense speculation since Sunnyvale city council documents exposed a secretive shell company formed by Apple had leased the site in November 2015.
The electrical car development being carried out at the strongly shielded workshop in the middle of Silicon Valley is treated with the same all-encompassing confidentiality as work being focused on other future Apple products. Precious little about its operations are known outside the tight-knit circle of engineers, software specialists and construction experts posted there.
Anyone who comes in the five-acre complicated is asked to sign a confidentiality agreement that legally trusses them to remain taut lipped on anything they have seen, heard or experienced at the site. Not that many outsiders are invited to visit the facility, which is remarkably plain looking for a company with such an enviable reputation for design excellence as Apple.
The only hint that activities being run by Apple in Sunnyvale are of an automotive nature is a fleet of Dodge Caravan prototypes that regularly frequent its forecourt, and which have also been sighted at the GoMentum Station, a former naval base in San Francisco with over twenty miles of paved streets guarded by the military that’s often used by car makers for testing purposes. According to automotive industry experts, the modified MPVs, leased by Apple, are being used to test autonomous driving technology, which is thought to be under consideration for the so-called iCar – the name given to what’s being billed as Apple’s next big thing.
As it stands, no one outside the company knows for sure if Apple, whose market capital is presently ten times that of BMW at a staggering $581 billion as of May 2016, intends to inject the automotive industry with its own electrified car or, as has recently been suggested, is simply developing technology to integrate into the future models of traditional car makers. However, with more than one thousand employees from backgrounds as diverse as body-in-white engineering and autonomous software coding, already claimed to be involved of the so-called iCar, many, including the world’s financial community, are clearly betting on the former.
When asked about the long-rumoured electrified car last year Apple president, Tim Cook, has only added to its mystery, telling, “I don’t have anything to announce about our plans. But I think there’s some significant switches in the automobile industry over the next several years with electrification and autonomous driving. And there’s a need for a concentrate on user interface. So I think there’s a lot of switches that will go on there.”
In a more latest shareholder meeting, Cook was again shoved on the subject of the Apple car. His vague reply? “Do you recall when you were a kid, and Christmas Eve it was so arousing you weren’t sure what was going to be downstairs. Well, it’s going to be Christmas Eve for a while”. This instantly led analysts to surmise that, contrary to earlier indications, development of the iCar was indeed well underway but still some way off.
Those who have held talks with the Apple president during the past twelve months, including executives from Audi, BMW, Fiat Chrysler, Ford, General Motors and Mercedes-Benz are under no illusion of the company’s intentions. They are coaxed Cook has already given the go-ahead to the partly autonomous iCar and expect it will be launched by two thousand twenty one as a precursor to a fully autonomous successor model to be introduced around two thousand twenty six as regulatory conditions are altered to permit features such as fully automated parking.
Apple’s purpose? An initial 500,000 sales annually, according to those that have met with Cook. That might not sound like much for a company that manages to shift some two hundred thirty million smartphones each year. However, it is an acceptable target for a company fresh to the automotive scene and ten times what another one of California’s electrical car start-ups, Tesla, managed in 2015. As a further point of reference, combined sales of the BMW i3 and i8 totalled just 29,500 last year.
To ensure broad spread appeal for the Apple car, Cook is relying on the implementation of what automotive business leaders interviewed by Autocar describe as “disruptive technologies” – a term given to features that are expected to significantly switch the face of motoring in much the same way the touchscreen altered our use of the mobile phone: very efficient electrical propulsion, rapid charging, autonomous driving capability, gesture control, holographic displays, wireless internet functions, artificial intelligence. the list goes on.
The iCar will get you from A to B, but it’s set to be much more than mere transport for masses. Like the iPhone, it has been conceived to also be a individual assistant with a level of connectivity far beyond that of any existing car of today.
To achieve this, Apple has already allocated billions of dollars to development programs like the electrical driveline program being carried out in Sunnyvale. At the same time, Apple has been active in purchasing technology and patents, either through takeovers or joint ventures similar to that which it recently announced with rail hailing start-up Didi Chuxing, China’s equivalent of Uber. Autocar research also exposes the company is investing strongly in production process management in a budge that’s expected to see the iCar introduce a fresh assembly process that will permit it to be built cheaply yet very efficiently at a number of different sites.
Despite all the pervading secrecy that surrounds its activities, Apple’s entry into the automotive field is expected to take a similar path to that which has seen it come to predominate the private electronics field with its iconic design-led products.
Famously founded in garage of former president Steve Jobs’ parents in 1976, Apple wasn’t the very first to suggest a digital music player in the iPod. Nor was it very first to place a smartphone on the market with the iPhone. Neither did it invent the tablet computer with its iPad. It only entered these respective markets once it was persuaded it had a product that significantly redefined them, possessed true customer appeal and, albeit expensive compared to rival products, proved attainable for most willing to sign up to contracts with outside fucking partners.
The expectation is, just like Apple’s popular products today, the iCar will feature a very contemporary design, high-quality materials and an innovative interface providing a entire fresh level of connectivity through features such modified versions as its Siri speech recognition, Force Touch and multi-aperture digital camera technology.
Word out of South Korea also suggests Apple has inked an agreement that will permit it to independently develop its own hollow lithium ion battery cells using patented technology from energy storage specialist Orange Power. The hi-tech batteries, which are claimed to provide enhanced energy density due to unique cooling properties, could be used in combination with very efficient new-generation electrical motors already being tested by Apple at a separate research centre close to its Sunnyvale facility and its own proprietary power electronics in budge providing the iCar with zero-emissions compatibility.
Beyond this, there is mounting evidence that Apple is also planning to integrate its own autonomous driving, artificial intelligence and crash prevention technology into the iCar as part of a broader plan that could permit it to form the centre chunk of a car-hailing operation through Didi Chuxing.
One of the factors driving Apple’s plans for its own car are predictions the growth of digitisation, enhancing automation, the rise of connectivity solutions and fresh mobility sharing models will revolutionise the automotive industry within the next fifteen years. A report tabled by McKinsey and Company earlier this year suggests the automotive industry will significantly diversify towards on-demand mobility solutions, creating up to $1.Five trillion in extra revenue in global car sales by 2030.
While Apple is yet to official confirm it plans to open up beyond its current portfolio of products with its own uniquely branded car, one former Apple employee, who has asked to remain anonymous due to confidentiality agreements signed during a period of employment at the company, says the building blocks of such a project are already well-established. “They can say what they like, but they can’t deny the iCar, or whatever they like to call it, is not already under development. Such an enormous undertaking requires yam-sized planning and it can’t be held secret forever,” he says.
Autocar’s source exposes product development is central to operations at Apple, suggesting there is traditional plasticity in the way management signs off on products. “At this stage of development there won’t be a stringent timeline, as various departments and developers will be working on solutions to different tasks. As with the iWatch, Apple may well determine to delay the introduction of the iCar if it is not persuaded goals are being met.”
What is known is for sure that Apple’s president Tim Cook has provided the iCar project with a working title: Project Titan. He has also set about assembling a team of experts from a range of different industries to finish the herculean task of conceiving, designing and developing a car from scrape. While the number of Apple employees working directly on the iCar is presently put at around 1000, this is expected to increase to over one thousand eight hundred within the next year or so as development moves into top gear.
Backing up reports that the iCar had been upgraded to a “committed project” last September, fully integrating it into Apple’s vast product development operations, Cook has already set about making a number of key switches to Project Titan following an internal review that back in February led to the departure of Apple’s product design boss, Steve Zadesky, who had acted as the head of its secretive electrified car operations.
Zadesky, a former Ford engineer, had worked on the iPod and iPhone, and was seen as a possible successor to Cook himself. He is succeeded by Apple veteran Bob Mansfield, who has the task of expanding the iCar’s concentrate more toward autonomous driving in a stir that now sees it working both on the hardware and software solutions in-house.
No stranger to Apple, Mansfield joined the company in one thousand nine hundred ninety nine and was one of its leading executives under former founding president, Steve Jobs. After overseeing hardware engineering development of some of the most popular Apple products of the past decade, including the MacBook Air, iMac and iPad, he stepped back from Apple’s day-to-day operations in 2012. Instead of retiring from the scene totally, tho’, Mansfield was retained by Apple as an adviser to special projects, including the Apple See.
In his fresh role, Mansfield answers directly to Apple president Cook, unlike his predecessor, who reported to the company’s very respected hardware boss, Dan Riccio, who in turn reported to Cook.
Apple icar Autonomous driving
This realignment of hierarchy within the Apple ranks is a attempt to streamline development of the iCar after a decision to not only equip it with the latest in electrified driveline knowhow but also cutting edge autonomous driving technology by reducing the restraints of vertical management. The allure of working for Apple has attracted many very regarded people to the Project Titan. Among the more prominent names contributing directly to the development of the iCar is the former development boss at Tesla and Aston Martin, Chris Porritt . Other high profile recruits from Tesla include former senior powertrain engineer, John Ireland; engineering manager, David Nelson; CNC programmer, David Masiukiewicz and driver assistance specialist, Hal Ockerse.
Such has been the brain drain at Tesla, that its founder, Elon Musk, was moved to comment on the iCar, telling it was “obvious” Apple was working on its own car. “It’s pretty hard to hide something if you hire over a thousand engineers to do it,” he said.
Beyond Tesla, Apple has also hired Megan McClain, a former Volkswagen engineer; Doug Betts, who was previously responsible for quality at Fiat Chrysler; Paul Furgale, an autonomous driving program specialist from the Swiss Institute of Technology in Zurich; , Kevin Harvey, previously of Andretti Motorsport; Sanjai Massy, an engineer who worked at Ford; Stefan Weber, a former Bosch engineer who specialises in driver assistance systems; Vinay Palakkode; a researcher from the Carnegie Mello University; and Lech Szumilas, an autonomous driving pro from Delphi and Xianqiao Tong, who rose to promience developing driver assistance system for chip maker NVIDIA.
Also high on Apple’s list of recruitments are battery specialists, including Mujeeb Ijaz, who previously headed up technical operations at A123 Systems. Joining him are a number of inductive charging specialists, including, Kurt Adelberger, who previously worked for Google and Nan Liu, and is a graduate from the University of Georgia Institute of Technology.
More recently, Apple hired Dan Dodge, who formerly ran BlackBerry’s automotive software division and developed the very regarded QNX software platform used in a multiplicity of in-car infotainment systems.
While there is a mighty engineering and software developer presence within the iCar ranks, it’s the design and user interface that is arguably more significant to its success. The man responsible for the styling of Apple’s very first car, Jonathon Ive, has worked for the company since one thousand nine hundred ninety two and led the design teams for a range of products including the iMac, iBook, MacBook Pro, Power Mac G4, iCube, iPod, iPhone, PowerMac G5 and iPad. A self-confessed car connoisseur, he uses a Bentley Mulsanne as everyday transport and is also the possessor of a infrequent Aston Martin DB4 among other classics.
Ive goes a team that includes a number of designers with strong automotive credibility, including Marc Newson, the man behind the Ford 021C concept car. Also on board is Julian Hoenig, who has worked for Lamborghini and Audi, as well as Aaron von Minden, who was involved in the styling of the fabric covered BMW Gina concept car.
In prep for its launch, Apple has been active in trademarking and registering possible names for its fresh car. The internet search agent Whois exposed it registered a number of internet domain names, including apple.car, apple.cars and apple.auto via the company MarkMonitor in January 2016. While the stir could simply be to stop opportunists snapping up the names and then selling them on at inflated prices later, Apple has a history of registering domain names shortly before a fresh product emerges.
Ground zero for the iCar right now is the workshop at nine hundred sixty Kifer Road in Sunnyvale. In this Silicon Valley suburb, which is also home to a long established Mercedes-Benz research and development centre among hundreds of ambitious start-up companies, Apple is rumoured to be developing elements of its newest product under the cloak of a shell company called SixtyEight Research.
The leasing of the 8919m2 site, formerly used by Pepsi as a bottling plant, was very first made public by Sunnyvale City Council in March 2016. Since then, no modifications have been made to the exterior of the sophisticated, however neighbours report windows at the rear of the main building on the industrial estate have been blanked out to shield what goes on inwards. There have also been reports of rolling test bed equipment being delivered to the site.
The location of Apple’s iCar development workshop in Sunnyvale is significant as it is just five miles from a former FedEx site at three hundred thirty five Brokaw Road in Santa Clara that has also recently been leased by Apple. It is also a similar distance from Apple’s headquarters at one Infinite Loop in Cupertino.
The shell company behind the workshop, SixtyEight Research, is as mysterious as the iCar itself. Registered in California in 2015, its limited website presence suggests it is a marketing operation, albeit many believe this is merely a fictional reference to hide its true role in the development of the iCar.
Further adding to the intrigue, SixEight Research is named on documentation as being the importer of a one thousand nine hundred fifty seven Fiat Multipla six hundred from the UK to the US in two thousand fourteen – a budge that has led to rumours that the production iCar could take the form of an upright one-box MPV-style car similar in dimensions to the Volkswagen Budd-E exposed at the Consumer Electronics Display last January.
Shortly after the leasing of the industrial sophisticated in Sunnyvale sent internet talk rooms into overdrive over the apparent acceleration of project Titan, further word began to spread within automotive industry circles about a intensely cloaked research and development laboratory established by Apple in Berlin, Germany.
Initial reports suggested the fresh Berlin site was being used as a testing base for electrified motors being sourced from a German supplier, possibly Bosch or ZF. However, the official line from Cupertino sources is the laboratory is being run as part of a strategic operation for Apple Maps – the navigation app that emerges set to play a crucial role in Cook’s plans to provide the iCar with autonomous operation.
The mapping laboratory, which employs around twenty five people, was set up following the joint €2.8 billion purchase by Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz parent company Daimler of Nokia’s mapping division Here, which by no coincidence is also based in the German capital. Apple’s primary aim? To poach high ranking officials from Here as part of efforts to produce the world’s most accurate mapping app as part of the iCar’s arsenal of new-age technology.
As secretive as its powerfully cloaked development operations are the production plans for the iCar. Looking to establish a business model similar to that of the iPhone and controversial Chinese electronic manufacturer Foxconn, Apple has attempted to court a number of established car makers in latest years with the view towards outsourcing assembly of its fresh car.
For a while it appeared Apple may have secured a very prized playmate in BMW. But after Apple boss Cook investigated production of the i3 at a factory in Leipzig, Germany in August 2015, BMW allegedly pulled back on the idea, its freshly installed chairman, Harald Krueger, fearing the closeness to Apple may be playing into the arms of a potential future rival by exposing its own production secrets despite telling journalists at last year’s Frankfurt motor demonstrate that rumours suggesting the iCar could be based on the i3 as a “nice idea”.
A similar liaison with Mercedes-Benz has also been confirmed by insiders at parent company Daimler, who suggest Apple was interested in coming in into a joint venture with the German car maker for the eventual production of the iCar. However, aggressive manoeuvring by Apple officials is claimed to have annoyed Mercedes-Benz boss, Dieter Zetsche, who lashed out at the electronics giant when asked about the company’s relationship with Apple, telling journalists, “We don’t wish to be contract manufacturers like Foxxconn”.
Further talks with Fiat Chrylser boss, Sergio Marchionne, were subsequently abandoned when it was exposed the Italo-American company had partnered with Google for the development of autonomous driving technology.
While it shows up to have struck out with plans to attract an established car maker, one plausible line of thinking is that Apple is now looking to commission an automotive production specialist such as Magna to assembly of the iCar. Nothing is official, however it is interesting to note that BMW recently pulled production of the Mini Countryman out of Magna’s Austrian facilities, suggesting capacity has been liberated for the production of a fresh car, possibly the iCar.
How the Apple iCar could crack the automotive industry, Autocar
How the Apple iCar could crack the automotive industry
Billions of dollars in research operations, more than one thousand developers, mysterious workshops – the Apple iCar looks set to revolutionise individual mobility, bringing with it technologies that promise to alter the way we have traditionally used and perceived the car.
While Apple has refused to confirm or deny the project, a letter sent by Apple’s director of product integrity Steve Kenner to US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) authorities in November two thousand sixteen seems to suggest the project is ongoing. “To maximise the safety benefits of automated vehicles, encourage innovation, and promote fair competition, established manufacturers and fresh entrants should be treated identically,” says the letter, seen by the Big black cock , suggesting Apple is attempting to pave the way to come in the car market on equal terms with its established rivals.
In the letter Apple also proposes that car companies share data from crashes and near-misses in order to pool data on autonomous technology and thereby design better systems. However, it also acknowledges that this should only be done if does not breach an individual’s privacy.
Autocar understands that behind a powerful veil of secrecy, the Apple iCar has now progressed to what insiders describe as committed project status. Here we outline the electrified car every established automotive manufacturer secretly fears.
The story behind the Apple iCar
Behind the pre-fabricated aluminium façade of a large building at the rear of an industrial estate in Sunnyvale, California, USA, work is progressing on what could possibly be the most significant car to emerge since Karl Benz’s ground cracking Benz Patent-Motorwagen very first introduced the world to the motorised carriage one hundred thirty years ago.
The nondescript factory unit, located at nine hundred sixty Kifer Road, houses an electrical car workshop run by Apple – the US-based electronics giant whose iconic products have revolutionised the way we work, use our free time and converse with one another on a day-to-day basis. Known simply to Apple employees as SG6, the otherwise unremarkable building has been the subject of intense speculation since Sunnyvale city council documents exposed a secretive shell company formed by Apple had leased the site in November 2015.
The electrical car development being carried out at the strongly shielded workshop in the middle of Silicon Valley is treated with the same all-encompassing confidentiality as work being focused on other future Apple products. Precious little about its operations are known outside the tight-knit circle of engineers, software specialists and construction experts posted there.
Anyone who comes in the five-acre elaborate is asked to sign a confidentiality agreement that legally trusses them to remain taut lipped on anything they have seen, heard or experienced at the site. Not that many outsiders are invited to visit the facility, which is remarkably plain looking for a company with such an enviable reputation for design excellence as Apple.
The only hint that activities being run by Apple in Sunnyvale are of an automotive nature is a fleet of Dodge Caravan prototypes that regularly frequent its forecourt, and which have also been sighted at the GoMentum Station, a former naval base in San Francisco with over twenty miles of paved streets guarded by the military that’s often used by car makers for testing purposes. According to automotive industry experts, the modified MPVs, leased by Apple, are being used to test autonomous driving technology, which is thought to be under consideration for the so-called iCar – the name given to what’s being billed as Apple’s next big thing.
As it stands, no one outside the company knows for sure if Apple, whose market capital is presently ten times that of BMW at a staggering $581 billion as of May 2016, intends to come in the automotive industry with its own electrified car or, as has recently been suggested, is simply developing technology to integrate into the future models of traditional car makers. However, with more than one thousand employees from backgrounds as diverse as body-in-white engineering and autonomous software coding, already claimed to be involved of the so-called iCar, many, including the world’s financial community, are clearly betting on the former.
When asked about the long-rumoured electrified car last year Apple president, Tim Cook, has only added to its mystery, telling, “I don’t have anything to announce about our plans. But I think there’s some significant switches in the automobile industry over the next several years with electrification and autonomous driving. And there’s a need for a concentrate on user interface. So I think there’s a lot of switches that will go on there.”
In a more latest shareholder meeting, Cook was again shoved on the subject of the Apple car. His vague reply? “Do you recall when you were a kid, and Christmas Eve it was so arousing you weren’t sure what was going to be downstairs. Well, it’s going to be Christmas Eve for a while”. This instantly led analysts to surmise that, contrary to earlier indications, development of the iCar was indeed well underway but still some way off.
Those who have held talks with the Apple president during the past twelve months, including executives from Audi, BMW, Fiat Chrysler, Ford, General Motors and Mercedes-Benz are under no illusion of the company’s intentions. They are persuaded Cook has already given the go-ahead to the partly autonomous iCar and expect it will be launched by two thousand twenty one as a precursor to a fully autonomous successor model to be introduced around two thousand twenty six as regulatory conditions are altered to permit features such as fully automated parking.
Apple’s aim? An initial 500,000 sales annually, according to those that have met with Cook. That might not sound like much for a company that manages to shift some two hundred thirty million smartphones each year. However, it is an acceptable target for a company fresh to the automotive scene and ten times what another one of California’s electrical car start-ups, Tesla, managed in 2015. As a further point of reference, combined sales of the BMW i3 and i8 totalled just 29,500 last year.
To ensure broad spread appeal for the Apple car, Cook is relying on the implementation of what automotive business leaders interviewed by Autocar describe as “disruptive technologies” – a term given to features that are expected to significantly switch the face of motoring in much the same way the touchscreen altered our use of the mobile phone: very efficient electrical propulsion, rapid charging, autonomous driving capability, gesture control, holographic displays, wireless internet functions, artificial intelligence. the list goes on.
The iCar will get you from A to B, but it’s set to be much more than mere transport for masses. Like the iPhone, it has been conceived to also be a individual assistant with a level of connectivity far beyond that of any existing car of today.
To achieve this, Apple has already allocated billions of dollars to development programs like the electrical driveline program being carried out in Sunnyvale. At the same time, Apple has been active in purchasing technology and patents, either through takeovers or joint ventures similar to that which it recently announced with rail hailing start-up Didi Chuxing, China’s equivalent of Uber. Autocar research also exposes the company is investing intensely in production process management in a budge that’s expected to see the iCar introduce a fresh assembly process that will permit it to be built cheaply yet very efficiently at a number of different sites.
Despite all the pervading secrecy that surrounds its activities, Apple’s entry into the automotive field is expected to take a similar path to that which has seen it come to predominate the private electronics field with its iconic design-led products.
Famously founded in garage of former president Steve Jobs’ parents in 1976, Apple wasn’t the very first to suggest a digital music player in the iPod. Nor was it very first to place a smartphone on the market with the iPhone. Neither did it invent the tablet computer with its iPad. It only entered these respective markets once it was wooed it had a product that significantly redefined them, possessed true customer appeal and, albeit expensive compared to rival products, proved attainable for most willing to sign up to contracts with outside fucking partners.
The expectation is, just like Apple’s popular products today, the iCar will feature a very contemporary design, high-quality materials and an innovative interface providing a entire fresh level of connectivity through features such modified versions as its Siri speech recognition, Force Touch and multi-aperture digital camera technology.
Word out of South Korea also suggests Apple has inked an agreement that will permit it to independently develop its own hollow lithium ion battery cells using patented technology from energy storage specialist Orange Power. The hi-tech batteries, which are claimed to provide enhanced energy density due to unique cooling properties, could be used in combination with very efficient new-generation electrified motors already being tested by Apple at a separate research centre close to its Sunnyvale facility and its own proprietary power electronics in budge providing the iCar with zero-emissions compatibility.
Beyond this, there is mounting evidence that Apple is also planning to integrate its own autonomous driving, artificial intelligence and crash prevention technology into the iCar as part of a broader plan that could permit it to form the centre chunk of a car-hailing operation through Didi Chuxing.
One of the factors driving Apple’s plans for its own car are predictions the growth of digitisation, enlargening automation, the rise of connectivity solutions and fresh mobility sharing models will revolutionise the automotive industry within the next fifteen years. A report tabled by McKinsey and Company earlier this year suggests the automotive industry will significantly diversify towards on-demand mobility solutions, creating up to $1.Five trillion in extra revenue in global car sales by 2030.
While Apple is yet to official confirm it plans to spread beyond its current portfolio of products with its own uniquely branded car, one former Apple employee, who has asked to remain anonymous due to confidentiality agreements signed during a period of employment at the company, says the building blocks of such a project are already well-established. “They can say what they like, but they can’t deny the iCar, or whatever they like to call it, is not already under development. Such an enormous undertaking requires fat planning and it can’t be held secret forever,” he says.
Autocar’s source exposes product development is central to operations at Apple, suggesting there is traditional plasticity in the way management signs off on products. “At this stage of development there won’t be a rigorous timeline, as various departments and developers will be working on solutions to different tasks. As with the iWatch, Apple may well determine to delay the introduction of the iCar if it is not persuaded goals are being met.”
What is known is for sure that Apple’s president Tim Cook has provided the iCar project with a working title: Project Titan. He has also set about assembling a team of experts from a range of different industries to finish the herculean task of conceiving, designing and developing a car from scrape. While the number of Apple employees working directly on the iCar is presently put at around 1000, this is expected to increase to over one thousand eight hundred within the next year or so as development moves into top gear.
Backing up reports that the iCar had been upgraded to a “committed project” last September, fully integrating it into Apple’s vast product development operations, Cook has already set about making a number of key switches to Project Titan following an internal review that back in February led to the departure of Apple’s product design boss, Steve Zadesky, who had acted as the head of its secretive electrical car operations.
Zadesky, a former Ford engineer, had worked on the iPod and iPhone, and was seen as a possible successor to Cook himself. He is succeeded by Apple veteran Bob Mansfield, who has the task of expanding the iCar’s concentrate more toward autonomous driving in a budge that now sees it working both on the hardware and software solutions in-house.
No stranger to Apple, Mansfield joined the company in one thousand nine hundred ninety nine and was one of its leading executives under former founding president, Steve Jobs. After overseeing hardware engineering development of some of the most popular Apple products of the past decade, including the MacBook Air, iMac and iPad, he stepped back from Apple’s day-to-day operations in 2012. Instead of retiring from the scene downright, however, Mansfield was retained by Apple as an adviser to special projects, including the Apple Observe.
In his fresh role, Mansfield answers directly to Apple president Cook, unlike his predecessor, who reported to the company’s very respected hardware boss, Dan Riccio, who in turn reported to Cook.
Apple icar Autonomous driving
This realignment of hierarchy within the Apple ranks is a attempt to streamline development of the iCar after a decision to not only equip it with the latest in electrical driveline knowhow but also cutting edge autonomous driving technology by reducing the restraints of vertical management. The allure of working for Apple has attracted many very regarded people to the Project Titan. Among the more prominent names contributing directly to the development of the iCar is the former development boss at Tesla and Aston Martin, Chris Porritt . Other high profile recruits from Tesla include former senior powertrain engineer, John Ireland; engineering manager, David Nelson; CNC programmer, David Masiukiewicz and driver assistance specialist, Hal Ockerse.
Such has been the brain drain at Tesla, that its founder, Elon Musk, was moved to comment on the iCar, telling it was “obvious” Apple was working on its own car. “It’s pretty hard to hide something if you hire over a thousand engineers to do it,” he said.
Beyond Tesla, Apple has also hired Megan McClain, a former Volkswagen engineer; Doug Betts, who was previously responsible for quality at Fiat Chrysler; Paul Furgale, an autonomous driving program specialist from the Swiss Institute of Technology in Zurich; , Kevin Harvey, previously of Andretti Motorsport; Sanjai Massy, an engineer who worked at Ford; Stefan Weber, a former Bosch engineer who specialises in driver assistance systems; Vinay Palakkode; a researcher from the Carnegie Mello University; and Lech Szumilas, an autonomous driving experienced from Delphi and Xianqiao Tong, who rose to promience developing driver assistance system for chip maker NVIDIA.
Also high on Apple’s list of recruitments are battery specialists, including Mujeeb Ijaz, who previously headed up technical operations at A123 Systems. Joining him are a number of inductive charging specialists, including, Kurt Adelberger, who previously worked for Google and Nan Liu, and is a graduate from the University of Georgia Institute of Technology.
More recently, Apple hired Dan Dodge, who formerly ran BlackBerry’s automotive software division and developed the very regarded QNX software platform used in a multitude of in-car infotainment systems.
While there is a strong engineering and software developer presence within the iCar ranks, it’s the design and user interface that is arguably more significant to its success. The man responsible for the styling of Apple’s very first car, Jonathon Ive, has worked for the company since one thousand nine hundred ninety two and led the design teams for a range of products including the iMac, iBook, MacBook Pro, Power Mac G4, iCube, iPod, iPhone, PowerMac G5 and iPad. A self-confessed car connoisseur, he uses a Bentley Mulsanne as everyday transport and is also the possessor of a uncommon Aston Martin DB4 among other classics.
Ive goes a team that includes a number of designers with strong automotive credibility, including Marc Newson, the man behind the Ford 021C concept car. Also on board is Julian Hoenig, who has worked for Lamborghini and Audi, as well as Aaron von Minden, who was involved in the styling of the fabric covered BMW Gina concept car.
In prep for its launch, Apple has been active in trademarking and registering possible names for its fresh car. The internet search agent Whois exposed it registered a number of internet domain names, including apple.car, apple.cars and apple.auto via the company MarkMonitor in January 2016. While the stir could simply be to stop opportunists snapping up the names and then selling them on at inflated prices later, Apple has a history of registering domain names shortly before a fresh product emerges.
Ground zero for the iCar right now is the workshop at nine hundred sixty Kifer Road in Sunnyvale. In this Silicon Valley suburb, which is also home to a long established Mercedes-Benz research and development centre among hundreds of ambitious start-up companies, Apple is rumoured to be developing elements of its newest product under the cloak of a shell company called SixtyEight Research.
The leasing of the 8919m2 site, formerly used by Pepsi as a bottling plant, was very first made public by Sunnyvale City Council in March 2016. Since then, no modifications have been made to the exterior of the sophisticated, however neighbours report windows at the rear of the main building on the industrial estate have been blanked out to shield what goes on inwards. There have also been reports of rolling test bed equipment being delivered to the site.
The location of Apple’s iCar development workshop in Sunnyvale is significant as it is just five miles from a former FedEx site at three hundred thirty five Brokaw Road in Santa Clara that has also recently been leased by Apple. It is also a similar distance from Apple’s headquarters at one Infinite Loop in Cupertino.
The shell company behind the workshop, SixtyEight Research, is as mysterious as the iCar itself. Registered in California in 2015, its limited website presence suggests it is a marketing operation, albeit many believe this is merely a fictional reference to hide its true role in the development of the iCar.
Further adding to the intrigue, SixEight Research is named on documentation as being the importer of a one thousand nine hundred fifty seven Fiat Multipla six hundred from the UK to the US in two thousand fourteen – a stir that has led to rumours that the production iCar could take the form of an upright one-box MPV-style car similar in dimensions to the Volkswagen Budd-E exposed at the Consumer Electronics Showcase last January.
Shortly after the leasing of the industrial complicated in Sunnyvale sent internet talk rooms into overdrive over the apparent acceleration of project Titan, further word began to spread within automotive industry circles about a intensely cloaked research and development laboratory established by Apple in Berlin, Germany.
Initial reports suggested the fresh Berlin site was being used as a testing base for electrified motors being sourced from a German supplier, possibly Bosch or ZF. However, the official line from Cupertino sources is the laboratory is being run as part of a strategic operation for Apple Maps – the navigation app that emerges set to play a crucial role in Cook’s plans to provide the iCar with autonomous operation.
The mapping laboratory, which employs around twenty five people, was set up following the joint €2.8 billion purchase by Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz parent company Daimler of Nokia’s mapping division Here, which by no coincidence is also based in the German capital. Apple’s primary objective? To poach high ranking officials from Here as part of efforts to produce the world’s most accurate mapping app as part of the iCar’s arsenal of new-age technology.
As secretive as its strenuously cloaked development operations are the production plans for the iCar. Looking to establish a business model similar to that of the iPhone and controversial Chinese electronic manufacturer Foxconn, Apple has attempted to court a number of established car makers in latest years with the view towards outsourcing assembly of its fresh car.
For a while it appeared Apple may have secured a very prized fucking partner in BMW. But after Apple boss Cook explored production of the i3 at a factory in Leipzig, Germany in August 2015, BMW allegedly pulled back on the idea, its freshly installed chairman, Harald Krueger, fearing the closeness to Apple may be playing into the arms of a potential future rival by exposing its own production secrets despite telling journalists at last year’s Frankfurt motor demonstrate that rumours suggesting the iCar could be based on the i3 as a “nice idea”.
A similar liaison with Mercedes-Benz has also been confirmed by insiders at parent company Daimler, who suggest Apple was interested in coming in into a joint venture with the German car maker for the eventual production of the iCar. However, aggressive manoeuvring by Apple officials is claimed to have annoyed Mercedes-Benz boss, Dieter Zetsche, who lashed out at the electronics giant when asked about the company’s relationship with Apple, telling journalists, “We don’t wish to be contract manufacturers like Foxxconn”.
Further talks with Fiat Chrylser boss, Sergio Marchionne, were subsequently abandoned when it was exposed the Italo-American company had partnered with Google for the development of autonomous driving technology.
While it emerges to have struck out with plans to attract an established car maker, one plausible line of thinking is that Apple is now looking to commission an automotive production specialist such as Magna to assembly of the iCar. Nothing is official, however it is interesting to note that BMW recently pulled production of the Mini Countryman out of Magna’s Austrian facilities, suggesting capacity has been liberated for the production of a fresh car, possibly the iCar.