The official entry of Apple in the automotive world is just a matter of time. To be fair the house of Cupertino has already taken a small step within the automotive industry, by depositing a patent related to tractor-trailer -half equipped with a permanent pivoting joint or semi-permanent that allows the vehicle to steer in a more netta-, patent that describes the details of a system able to protect from snow and ice the steering mechanism of an articulated vehicle.
READ ALSO: Project Titan (Apple Car) more and more shrouded in mystery
Apple’s coffers are full
Apple has estimated available funds of 581 billion D dollars, exactly 10 times that of BMW, just to make a comparison. Therefore, also in view of the very near future, in Cupertino they have decided well to use them to a right end. The third fiscal quarter has been for Apple another moment of transition, under the context of the slowdown in sales of the iPhone .
iPhone remains the main business of the company where sales are still in physiological decline, -though a good push could give the iPhone 7-. The last fiscal results photographing well Cupertino company and for the situation to return to growth must necessarily explore other shores .
A mysterious project
The Apple Car is encoded as “ Project Titan ” and it is a very secret project seen that the information leaked so far are very few. Part of the development of Apple Car is happening inside a building located in an industrial area in Sunnyvale , California, United States of America. The building, located on 960 Kifer Road, houses a laboratory run by Apple specializes in electric cars. Known to Apple employees as SG6 , the building has been the subject of intense speculation since the documents of the city of Sunnyvale Council revealed a company formed by Apple that had affiattato the site in November of 2015.
the only clues that somehow put this mysterious plant to Apple Car are the fleet of prototypes Dodge Caravan frequently sighted in the area in front of the square. According to several sources these vehicles were modified and used by the Cupertino to test autonomous driving technology. Recall that a few months ago, according to a report in the Frankfurter Allgemeine, the development of the Apple Car would be under development also at a secret laboratory in Berlin .
The team grows
Currently it is estimated a team of about 1000 employees from various backgrounds of the technology of autonomous driving. In recent months, however, they have been major changes within the team of human resources dedicated to the development of the Apple Car. Such as the recent departure of Bart Nabbe , former Apple and expert in autonomous driving cars, with destination Faraday Future, a company that has been defined as the “Chinese Tesla.” Nabbe, after working at Toyota, was in fact member of “special projects” Apple , a department that has created the Project Titan. Nabbe in recent weeks then left Apple to join the Faraday Future where exactly will the car’s development to autonomous driving.
The Nabbe output was filled entry into Apple former BlackBerry, Dan Dodge , a resource which in the past was responsible for the development of automotive software. Dan Dodge within the Project Titan should devote himself to the development of the car dedicated to autonomous driving technology.
READ ALSO: Apple jumps on new automotive business: autonomous driving
leading the Project Titan is the former Apple executive, Bob Mansfield , who worked under Steve Jobs contributing to the creation of Macbook Air, iPad and iMac . Bob Mansfiled has assumed the position of head of development . Mansfield previously occupied the position of senior vice president of the technology division. It was later dedicated to the development of the “ Special Projects ” as the Apple Watch and now, again according to sources, has been moved to guide the development of Project Titan .
Apple also also took Chris Porritt engineer former Tesla Motors specialized in engineering of electric vehicles. The engineer hired by Apple has a track record of respectable considering that boasts experience as a chief engineer at Aston Martin actively participating in the implementation of the One-77, V12 Zagato and DB9.
READ ALSO: Apple Car: 5 Things You Need to Know
Mansfield took over the reins of the Project Titan from Steve Zadesky , who left Apple in early 2016. After the demise Zedesky the development of Project Titan was collapsed despite efforts by Apple that had provided 1,000 employees in California and a center of research and development in Berlin.
Auto electrical or services?
As we have said several times the Project Titan may be a far cry from electric car in autonomous driving . In An investment of one billion dollars in the Chinese Didi Chuxing , defined as the “Uber China”, suggests an interest also in the exclusive mobility services , which could range from entertainment systems, integrated technology on board, to sell to top manufacturers.
READ ALSO: Faraday Future: 5 things to know about the mysterious “Chinese Tesla”
Among the acquisitions made by Apple, we can also mention Jonathan Cohen , former director of the division deep learning NVIDIA , which managed the human resource self-learning technologies related to the chipset and software for autonomous driving on the cars.
project Titan has been in development for about two years but, in view of the secrecy of the project, information are few and fragmentary -the company has not yet announced the project-. Apple reportedly working on an electrical machine which, in a second moment, could become totally autonomous driving. The output of the car was originally scheduled for 2020, but also because of the vicissitudes that occurred within the development team, the release has been postponed to 2021 .
An analysis so all Apple acquisitions, we can assume the joint development of services (software) and hardware (electric vehicle) . The Cupertino company has in fact hired Chris Porritt, former Tesla Motors engineer specializing in engineering of electric vehicles, Jonathan Cohen, former director of the division of NVIDIA deep learning, human resource that ran the self-learning technologies related to chipsets and software at for autonomous driving, Todd Gray, the former Ford, who was in charge of the construction of the aluminum truck bodies used on F-150, Aindrea Campbell, specializing in lightweight materials used in vehicles.
Project Titan remains a risk
the automotive industry is a type of low-profit industry. And this is nothing new. We are therefore convinced that Apple will throw himself headlong into the production of an electric car? Difficult to assume it with certainty, appears rather more plausible a possible partnership with some manufacturer to help Apple to produce the car physically.
What will Apple target? Undoubtedly Apple is not interested in mass. So it is likely that a possible Apple Car is a car of medium / high range. How many cars should sell Apple to be the least productive? In the first year of view of Apple Car could be enough 500 thousand cars a year.
Apple, regardless, it will not be and, above all, it does not aim to become a traditional car maker. In a time when the auto industry is changing at a breakneck speed, the Cupertino company could also “settle” to sell its technological know-how to other companies, such as the development of autonomous driving. On the other hand, however, the Germans are not the giants certain to look for are developing specific solutions both independently related to autonomous driving is for electric cars. What is certain is that Apple’s advent in the automotive industry will not be an entrance on tiptoe.
The car of the future will be more and more intelligent and able to anticipate our intentions. In particular is another interesting game where Apple just on human-machine you play will surely protagonist.
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