Apple Car: Deals with Mercedes-Benz, McLaren, Other Details Emerge

The death of Apple’s “Project Titan” might have come as a surprise to many, who were hoping for the kind of unique new take on autonomous cars that only the maker of iPhones and Macs could come up with. However, after over a decade and several billion dollars invested, Apple has confirmed that its ambitions in this space have been paused. As per reports coming out over the past week or so, multiple engineers are likely to be reassigned to other Apple projects but many will also be laid off. 

Even though Apple’s product development efforts are always shrouded in secrecy, something as ambitious as developing autonomous cars from scratch requires plenty of outside resources and industry collaboration, and so leaks and rumours have been swirling for years. Apple also had a fleet of modified Lexus cars driving on public roads to help develop its navigation technology, and had applied for an autonomous vehicle testing permit in the state of California. 

Tech companies have been getting into the automotive space for ages, as it’s generally understood that cars are extremely personal spaces to people, and every company wants you to be part of its own ecosystem across physical and digital environments. As seen by Xiaomi’s recent SU7 debut, not many companies have the resources to pull off something on this scale.

Now, even more details about the project have emerged, hinting at what might have been and what eventually went wrong for Apple. As per Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple’s automotive ambitions began as early as 2008, when Steve Jobs considered getting into this market. However, what the project that came to be known as Project Titan was different, aiming for an entirely autonomous transportation system (Level 5) with no steering wheels or other driver controls in the vehicles themselves, except for an emergency backup that functions like today’s game controllers. That target was later dropped to Level 3 or Level 2.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the car is said to have been designed with rounded sides, sliding doors, and lots of glass. Internally, it earned the nickname “bread loaf” and might have ended up looking more like a minibus. Celebrity designer Jony Ive is said to have envisioned a “club-like” atmosphere with white luxury seats, and interiors decked out in wood finishes and stainless steel. Much like Apple’s original iPod and some other products, the car might also have only been available in white, at least at the time of launch.

At other points, Apple was reportedly in talks with Mercedes-Benz to co-develop a car platform. Although these discussions lasted several months, Gurman reports that Apple pulled out, believing it could handle the manufacturing and logistics of selling cars itself. It also seems that Apple had a preliminary discussion with Ford, but that plan did not go anywhere. At one point, Apple and Volkswagen collaborated on a self-driving shuttle for use within the Apple Park campus, but this was also abandoned.

It was widely reported in late 2020 that Apple CEO Tim Cook had rejected the possibility of the then-multi-billion-dollar company buying Tesla outright, after Elon Musk tweeted that he had approached Cook about an acquisition. The new report indicates that Apple might have been interested in a deal with Tesla to source batteries or other tech. More interestingly, Apple considered buying luxury sportscar maker McLaren.

While none of these efforts might have paid off, Apple could still use the technology it has developed and its experience over the past decade in other products and partnerships. CarPlay is widely popular, and has received a significant update with iOS 17.4, released just this week, while Apple Maps keeps on improving as well.