The autonomous electric car market is just around the corner and the best-prepared companies will capture the most customers. It’s a market full of opportunities and tech companies know they can grab them. After a tour of Asia, with no positive results apparently, there are indications that Apple will go ahead on its own in manufacturing its car.
By the moves of late, the Cupertino company must have faced some resistance from those who look at Apple’s car as a strong competitor.
This week, Project Titan, which aims to develop the Apple Car, suffered a major blow. According to what was announced, Apple vice president and former Tesla executive Doug Field is leaving the company to head to Ford. However, according to Korea’s Mail Economic Daily, Apple still has “hundreds of engineers attached to the secret project” and is currently selecting final parts suppliers for its electric and autonomous car.
This decision may have to do with the difficulty in getting partners in the automotive industry. After having contacts with BMW, Hyundai Motors/Kia, Nissan and Toyota, the doors did not open and Apple will now be on its own.
Project Titan started in 2014 and since then Apple has already lost several engineers, as it has also gone to the market to hire others with experience in the field, some even coming out of manufacturing brands.
According to a local source familiar with Apple, on the 8th of this month, the company sent a Request for Quotation (RFQ) to some global automotive parts manufacturers while restoring a vehicle development lab that had all but stopped. The RFQ is a document sent after the Request for Prior Information (RFI) and the Request for Proposal (RFP), and is a message indicating that the final supplier of the parts will be selected soon.
So, the indications seem to show that the Cupertino giant will go ahead with its car, within its structures and put the proposal on the market without intervention from other major manufacturers. Recently, the company hired two engineers from Mercedes to augment its Apple Car team.
With back and forth, some analysts point out that the car will not appear until 2025.