[Auto] Apple Car by 2024 with ‘Next Level’ battery Tech, says report – a ‘Big Challenge’, say VW.

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Apple’s plans to build their own self-driving car – Project Titan – will come to fruition in 2024 including ‘next level’ battery tech.

Apple’s Project Titan – the codename for their development of an autonomous vehicle – has been known about in general for years, but Apple has never actually confirmed it plans to build an electric car, and recent reports have been all about the project winding down.

But now, according to Reuters, the project is very much alive and kicking and will culminate in the arrival of an ‘Apple Car’ (the ‘iCar’?) in 2024.

It seems the plan is to build Apple Cars as personal vehicles – not just as mobility solutions with autonomous ‘Taxis’, like Google’s Waymo – and with a new battery said to be a big breakthrough, with a ‘monocell’ design that eliminates pouches and modules and uses lithium ion phosphate, promising reduced production costs and increased range.

It all sounds very promising, and with pockets as deep as Apple’s almost anything is possible, and although it seems highly unlikely Apple will go down the self-production route and actually build its own car, the entry of Apple in to the automotive sphere will have a big impact, not just for consumers but established automotive companies too.

Commenting on the Apple Car plans on Linkedin, VW boss, Herbert Diess, said the arrival of cash-rich technology firms in to the automotive space represented a big challenge to traditional automotive firms. He said:

We look forward to new competitors who will certainly accelerate the change in our industry and bring in new skills. The unbelievable valuation and the practically unlimited access to resources instill a lot of respect in us.

I have said it before: the most valuable company in the world will again be a mobility company. It could be Tesla, Apple or Volkswagen.

It looks like the move from cars as a passion for many to simply ‘White Goods’ that move you from place to place will become unstoppable when Apple start signing the world up to an ‘iCar Plan.