Apple iCar Release Date, News & Rumors: 'Titan' in the Works?

In the past week, tech observers got all worked up over rumors that the iPhone-making company may be moving on to four-wheeled vehicle production. Although Apple had not said a word about the latest issue, pundits speculated that the Cupertino-based firm may be looking at making cars in the future after it was learned that the company was sued by electric-car battery producer A123 Systems "for poaching top engineers to build a large-scale battery division," according to Reuters.

The news source also went on to report that Apple "has been poaching engineers with deep expertise in car systems, including from Tesla Inc, and talking with industry experts and automakers with the ultimate aim of learning how to make its own electric car."

The lawsuit revealed that the tech giant began poaching A123 engineers in charge of a number of critical projects in June last year.

"The engineers jumped ship to pursue similar programs at Apple, in violation of their employment agreements," Reuters noted.

In addition, A123 alleged that Apple was also setting its sights on hiring battery engineers from other companies, such as "LG Chem Ltd, Samsung SDI Co Ltd, Panasonic Corp, Toshiba Corp and Johnson Controls Inc."

Meanwhile, CNN pointed out that Apple had hired, Johann Jungwirth, a Mercedes-Benz exec in September last year. He is currently the "director of Mac systems engineering."

"Jungwirth's resume shows he specializes in building Internet-connected cars and autonomous driving," the news agency added.

One of the reports emerging of late alleged that the "iCar" is said to be code-named "Project Titan" and is moving along "at breakneck speed," said New York Post.

"While auto companies can take as long as seven years to develop a car, Apple is said to be hoping to start shipping its vehicles in five years - or as early as 2020," the publication went on to say.

On the other hand, Mashable speculated that the rumored 2020 target may be "an extraordinarily early date to even expect the first production vehicle," especially "considering Sir Jony Ive's insanely micro-researched, utterly perfectionist standards" and "the habitual caution of CEO Tim Cook, who has a tendency to play the long game."

In addition, industry experts have expressed doubt over the success of the said project, as Apple really "needs to make sure it can get people from point A to point B," as noted by CNBC. It also needs to fix Apple Maps.

As to suspicions that Apple's ultimate goal is to build a self-driving car, The Economist said that "it would need first to catch up with the established carmakers, which are also busy hiring software talent and which have been introducing ever more sophisticated 'assisted driving' features in their models, such as the ability to park themselves, and to navigate stop-go traffic unaided."

Is it a good move for Apple to move into car-making? Let us know what you think.

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