Apple Car on track for 2026 release, under $100K price, custom chip, and no full self-driving at launch
Over the last couple of years, we’ve heard different estimates of when Apple Car might finally make it to market which have ranged from 2024 to 2028. Now the latest report predicts a debut in 2026 with a custom Apple Silicon chip, no self-driving, and a price tag under $100,000.
There have been many twists and turns over the last seven years of Apple Car news and rumors. Back in 2017 after several years of work, it appeared Apple had given up on producing a physical vehicle and was ready to focus on autonomous vehicle software.
However, at the end of 2020, Apple pivoted back to working on producing an actual car powered by its own software.
Some reports suggested a launch as soon as 2024 while others said it would likely be 2028 or beyond. Rumors swirled that Hyundai and Kia were working to reach a deal to produce the vehicle but that was later scrapped.
Early in 2021, Bloomberg said that the Apple Car launch would likely launch between 2026-2028 and corroborated some reports that Apple was aiming for a self-driving-focused design. Since then, we’ve seen Project Titan have to reorganize its team once again.
No self-driving at launch
As reported by Bloomberg today, the latest on Project Titan is a scaling back of the effort that will skip fully autonomous driving at launch to prioritize getting the vehicle to market. Earlier reports suggested Apple may have been going for a fully autonomous design without a steering wheel or pedals.
“In a significant shift for the project, the company is now planning a less-ambitious design that will include a steering wheel and pedals and only support full autonomous capabilities on highways, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private.”
However, Apple may still attempt to offer some entertainment features when possible:
“Apple currently plans to develop a vehicle that lets drivers conduct other tasks — say, watch a movie or play a game — on a freeway and be alerted with ample time to switch over to manual control if they reach city streets or encounter inclement weather. The company has discussed launching the feature in North America initially and then improving and expanding it over time.”
Apple Car price and release date
Sources close to the effort say the launch has been postponed from 2025 to 2026 and the aim is to price the vehicle under $100,000. That’s after previously considering pricing it above $120,000.
Apple Silicon
When it comes to the Apple Silicon, the chip for Apple car is expected to be “equal to about four of Apple’s highest-end Mac chips combined.”
“The heart of Apple’s technology is a powerful onboard computer system — codenamed Denali after the tallest mountain peak in North America — and a custom array of sensors. The processor’s performance is equal to about four of Apple’s highest-end Mac chips combined and is being developed by the company’s silicon engineering group. The chip has reached an advanced state and is considered nearly production-ready, though Apple may scale it down before the car’s launch to lower costs.”
Apple Car Design
Bloomberg’s sources say that Apple still hasn’t dialed in on a design for its first vehicle and the team is still working in a “pre-prototype” stage.
“The company is aiming to ready the design by next year and have the features set by the end of 2024. It then plans to put the car through extensive testing in 2025.”
Along with the switch from an autonomous focus to a driver-led design, Apple is said to have pivoted from a more “limousine-like interior” with passengers facing each other to a standard setup.
Apple is apparently still working on finding a partner to purchase an existing electric-vehicle platform instead of developing its own. The company has a number of auto industry veterans working on the project:
“The design of the car is being led by Ulrich Kranz, the ex-chief executive officer of Canoo, as well as former managers from Tesla, Lamborghini and Porsche. The software side of the system is led by former Tesla manager Stuart Bowers, while safety engineering, testing and regulatory matters are handled by ex-Ford Motor Co. executive Desi Ujkashevic.”
Project Titan leadership
The Apple executives leading Project Titan have shifted a number of times over the years. After coming out of retirement in 2016 to head up the effort, Bob Mansfield left in 2020. At that point, SVP of AI John Giannandrea took over for about a year before Apple Watch and Health app chief Kevin Lynch stepped in to lead.
Bloomberg highlights Lynch is still in charge of Project Titan and is the one who is putting a focus on “ensuring that a product actually reaches the market.”
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Paris’ bike-share system, Vélib has long been considered one of the shining success stories of urban micromobility. With a massive fleet of over 20,000 pedal and electric-assist bicycles around Paris, the service has helped millions of residents and tourists get around the City of Light without needing a car or scooter. But lately, a growing problem is threatening to knock the wheels off this urban mobility marvel: theft and joyriding.
According to city officials and the service operator, more than 600 Vélib bikes are now going missing every single week. That’s over 30 bikes a day simply vanishing from the system – some stolen outright, others taken on “joy rides” and never returned.
“At the moment we’re missing 3,000 bikes,” explained Sylvain Raifaud, head of the Agemob company that currently operates the Velib system. That’s nearly 15% of over 20,000 Vélib bikes across Paris.
The sticky-fingered culprits aren’t necessarily professional thieves or organized crime rings. Instead, they’re often regular users who treat the shared bikes like disposable toys.
The city estimates that many people have figured out how to pry the bikes out of the system’s parking docks, unlocking one for a casual cruise and then ditching it somewhere far from a docking station.
Once pried free, the bikes are technically usable for the next 24 hours until their automatic locking feature kicks in. At that point, the bikes are often simply abandoned. Some end up in alleyways. Others get tossed in rivers. A few just disappear completely.
And since the bikes are intended to be parked at their many docking stations around the city, they don’t have GPS chips, further complicating recovery of “liberated” bikes.
The issue started small but has grown into more than an inconvenience – it’s beginning to undermine the entire purpose of the service. With bikes going missing at such a high rate, many Vélib docking stations are left empty, especially during rush hours.
Riders looking for a quick commute or a convenient hop across town are increasingly finding themselves without available bikes, or having to walk long distances to find a functioning one.
That kind of unreliability chips away at user confidence and threatens to drive potential riders back into cars, cabs, or other less sustainable forms of transport at a time when Paris has already made great strides to dramatically reduce car usage in the city.
The losses are financially painful, too. Replacing stolen or vandalized bikes isn’t cheap, and the resources spent on tracking down missing equipment or reinforcing anti-theft measures are stretching thin. Vélib has faced theft and vandalism issues before, especially during its early years, but this latest surge has officials sounding the alarm with renewed urgency.
Officials acknowledge that there’s no easy fix. Paris, like many cities with bike-share systems, walks a fine line between accessibility and accountability. Part of what makes Vélib so successful is its ease of use and widespread availability. But those same features make it vulnerable to misuse – especially when enforcement is limited and the consequences for abuse are minimal.
The timing of the problem is especially unfortunate. In recent years, Paris has seen impressive results in reducing car traffic, expanding bike lanes, and promoting cycling as a key part of its sustainable transport strategy. Vélib is a cornerstone of that plan. But if the system becomes too unreliable, it risks losing the very people it was designed to serve.
Meanwhile, as Parisians increasingly find themselves staring at empty docks, the challenge for the city and Vélib will be to restore confidence in the system without making it harder to use. That means striking the right balance between freedom and responsibility, between open access and protection against abuse.
In a city where cycling is supposed to be the future of mobility, losing thousands of bikes to joyriders and sticky fingers isn’t just frustrating; it’s unsustainable.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Sports2 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike