An Apple Car was never officially on the way, but a couple of weeks ago we heard that Apple had decided to abandon the project. Now we've got a few more details about what the Apple Car was looking like in the early stages of its development.
As per Mark Gurman in his Power On newsletter – usually a reliable source for Apple info – the long-rumored car would have “wowed consumers” and really stood out in terms of its design. Apparently it wasn't too dissimilar to the Canoo electric SUV.
Gurman mentions darkened windows with an adjustable tint, an all-glass sunroof, a completely white exterior, and whitewall tires with a black center. Oh, and both ends of the car had the same contours, apparently – so there was no 'front' or 'back' in that regard.
Matching previous leaks, this latest info dump suggests that Apple was aiming for full self-driving capabilities, so-called Level 5. The “contoured bubble” of the vehicle would take you from A to B with no manual driving required.
Private jets and limousines
According to Gurman, the interior of the Apple Car changed several times, but the idea was to be as minimalist as possible. Seats like those of a private jet or a limousine would have been included, with four people comfortably accommodated.
A giant screen in the center of the vehicle was planned in some iterations, for showing videos and (of course) making FaceTime calls. In other variations, this display was closer to the size of an iPad (or a Tesla dashboard). There was even a custom air conditioning system.
Gurman suggests that several different model designs were worked on, with one looking like a 1950s Volkswagen microbus, and another like the Volkswagen ID Buzz. The most recent design of the Apple Car came with gull-wing doors, apparently.
By the end, Apple had scaled down its ambitions in terms of the autonomous driving capabilities, and had fitted a steering wheel and pedals back into the car. It seems that we'll never get to see an Apple Car now – so we'll just have to make do with the next-gen CarPlay experience that's due to arrive sometime this year.
