Apple meeting Toyota bosses in Japan to discuss building its electric car, report says

Apple ‘is meeting Toyota bosses in Japan to discuss building its electric car – with the vehicle set to be unveiled in 2024’

  • Apple is meeting with Toyota executives about building the Apple Car by 2024  
  • Apple executives are reportedly in Asia, trying to get suppliers to build the car
  • The tech giant has been working on a car project since 2014 under the code name Project Titan
  • In 2017, CEO Tim Cook confirmed Apple was working on a car-related project
  • Details are scarce, but the vehicle will likely have self-driving technology, and be powered by electricity rather than gas  

Apple is in Japan meeting with Toyota executives about producing its long-rumored Apple Car by 2024, according to a media report.

Executives at Apple, the world’s most valuable company by market cap, are meeting with the Japanese automaker in Asia, as it tries to lay the groundwork for suppliers to help build the vehicle in the next few years, DigiTimes reported. 

The firm, led by Tim Cook, is also said to have met with South Korea’s SK Group and LG Electronics last month on the secretive project.

Apple is meeting with Toyota executives about producing the Apple Car by 2024

Apple executives are reportedly in Asia, trying to get suppliers to build the car, having met with SK Group and LG Electronics

Apple executives are reportedly in Asia, trying to get suppliers to build the car, having met with SK Group and LG Electronics

DailyMail.com has reached out to Apple and Toyota with a request for comment for this story.

Apple has been working on a car project since 2014 under the code name Project Titan.

Cook, who helms the normally secretive company, confirmed in 2017 that Apple was working on a car-related project.

We’re focusing on… what we talked about we’re focusing on publicly is… We’re focusing on autonomous systems,’ Cook said in an interview with Bloomberg.

The tech giant has been working on a car project since 2014 under the code name Project Titan. In 2017, CEO Tim Cook confirmed Apple was working on a car-related project

The tech giant has been working on a car project since 2014 under the code name Project Titan. In 2017, CEO Tim Cook confirmed Apple was working on a car-related project

‘Clearly, one purpose of autonomous systems is self-driving cars — there are others. And we sort of see it as the mother all AI projects.’

‘It’s probably one of the most difficult AI projects to work on. So autonomy is something that is incredibly exciting for us. But we’ll see where it takes us — we’re not really saying from a product point of view what we’ll do. It’s a core technology that we view as very important.’ 

In January, Hyundai confirmed that it was in talks with Apple about building a self-driving electric car, but eventually backtracked after the comments made headlines. 

In February, Apple was purportedly getting ready to invest $3.6 billion in Kia Motors to help building electric vehicles in 2024, though that has yet to be confirmed. 

Apple has long been rumored to be working on a passenger vehicle.

In December 2020, Reuters reported that Apple’s Car would include a new ‘breakthrough battery technology’,’ known as ‘monocell,’ that could radically reduce cost and increase the vehicle’s range before a recharge is needed.

A Reuters source said the technology is ‘next level,’ adding it is like ‘the first time you saw the iPhone.’

It remains unclear who would assemble such a car, but analysts have said they expect the company to rely on a manufacturing partner to build vehicles.

‘We continue to strongly believe Apple ultimately announces an EV strategic partnership in 2021 that lays the groundwork to enter the burgeoning EV space,’ Wedbush analysts said in a note to investors earlier this year.

In February, Bloomberg reported that Apple has an initial target of 100,000 cars per year, a far cry from the 1.6 billion Apple devices in active use Cook told investors earlier this year. 

TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has previously said the car would have a 300 mile range and go from 0 to 60 in less than 3.5 seconds.

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