Vladimir Covic

Apple Aims to Ship its Electric Car by 2019 Apple is going “full speed” in its effort to build an electric car of its own and has already set a shipping date for 2019. Apple’s project, code-named “Titan”, already has a team of 600 people working on the electric car, but the maker of iPhones and iPads has received the go ahead to triple it. Apple Moving Into Self-Driving Cars Fast That Apple is serious about making its electric car can best be seen by the number of new hires the company has brought recently. Just last month, project Titan became stronger by a Tesla’s senior engineer Jamie Carlson. Before him, Apple has also hired three other experts. In January, the company has hired former AG engineer from Volkswagen Megan McClain and a graduate researcher from Carnegie Mellon University Vinay Palakkode. Before them, Apple also hired Xianqiao Tong, an engineer at NVidia Corp, who created a computer vision software for driver assistance and former deputy director at Autonomous Systems Lab Paul Furgale. The company has also met recently with officials from California’s DMV. In an email about this, agency deputy director Armando Botello pretty much confirmed what they talked about: “DMV often meets with various companies regarding DMV operation. The Apple meeting was to review DMV’s autonomous vehicle regulations” Is Apple Making a Smart Move? There’s still a question whether Apple’s decision to enter this market is a smart move or not. Former vice chairman at GM Bob Lutz says it is not. In an interview for CNBC’s “Closing Bell”, Lutz said: “When it comes to actually making cars, there is no reason to assume that Apple, with no experience, will suddenly do a better job than General Motors, Ford, Volkswagen, Toyota, or Hyundai. So I think this is going to be a giant money pit. But then it doesn’t matter – I mean, Apple has an embarrassment of riches, they don’t know where to put the cash anymore.” Lutz added: “If I were a board member of Apple, I would ask some serious questions about this whole thing.” Gene Munster, an analyst from Piper Jaffray also has its point of view regarding Apple’s electric car: “If Apple makes a car as we know it today, we expect it to be an electric vehicle that is likely priced in the luxury market. We expect the vehicle to electric given Apple’s focus not only on environmentally friendly products today, but its vision to deliver future technologies even if they are a few years early.”