Apple in talks with Toyota about Apple Car production: Report

Apple representatives were said to have met with South Korea's SK Group and LG Electronics last month to discuss Apple Car development, and now the iPhone maker is in talks with Toyota.

San Francisco: Apple is reportedly meeting with Toyota executives about producing its long-rumoured Apple Car by 2024.

According to DigiTimes, Apple representatives were said to have met with South Korea’s SK Group and LG Electronics last month to discuss Apple Car development, and now the iPhone maker is in talks with Toyota.

---

Apple has been working on a car project since 2014 under the code name, Project Titan.

Earlier, reports mentioned that Apple was also discussing similar plans with other automobile manufacturers including Hyundai.

The first Apple electric car earlier reported to be built on Hyundai’s electric vehicle platform.

In a note to investors, TF Securities Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said Apple’s deep collaboration with current automakers (Hyundai Group, General Motors and PSA) who have extensive development, production and qualification experience “will significantly shorten the Apple Car development time and create a time-to-market advantage”.

Kuo believes that the earliest possible date for an Apple car to hit the market is 2025.

The Apple car is rumoured to feature LiDAR technology which could add a lot of depth to onboard Artificial Intelligence (AI) functions.

The vehicle is expected to use a “C1” chip based on the A12 Bionic processor with in-cabin AI capabilities such as eye-tracking.

The long-rumoured Apple Car is also expected to use LED screens all over the vehicle to inform other drivers what the self-driving system is doing.

In a patent granted by the US Patent and Trademark Office titled “Exterior Lighting and Warning System”. Apple’s system would involve the creation of displays that are placed around the vehicle and this long display is expected to show a variety of information to other road users.