Apple's Electric Car to Hit the Market in 2019

Apple Inc. is accelerating its efforts to develop an electric vehicle, aiming to launch it to consumers by 2019. According to the Wall Street Journal, after a year of research, hiring automotive experts from around the world, and meetings with legal representatives in California—where Apple is based—the project, codenamed Titan, is taking a more practical shape. The first step will involve tripling the number of team members. Currently, in the electric vehicle sector in the U.S., Tesla dominates the luxury and high-end market, while Nissan's Leaf is another popular all-electric vehicle. Although Apple has specialists in the field of autonomous vehicles on its team, insiders say there are currently no plans to develop a self-driving car. However, it may be addressed in the long-term plans. Adrien Lafrance believes that while Silicon Valley is convinced that the future undoubtedly lies with autonomous vehicles, there are still many legal and technical hurdles facing companies like Google that have invested in it. Lafrance suggests that Apple intends to first enter the competitive automotive market and, after establishing itself as a serious competitor to companies like Tesla, test its chances in offering autonomous vehicles as well. This mirrors Apple's approach in the mobile phone industry: in 2005, Apple collaborated with Motorola to provide a music service for mobile phones. A year later, the iPhone was launched, forever changing the face of handheld devices. Apple's renewed commitment indicates that the company sees new opportunities in the automotive industry. It remains to be seen how the innovative technology that introduced the iPhone to the world will dazzle eyes this time by combining technology, beauty, and comfort in the automotive sector.