Apple is expected to commence production of electric vehicles by 2024.

According to the Reuters report, Apple has made enough strides in this initiative to finally plan to create a vehicle for customers, even though this could be postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The car will be powered by a "breakthrough" single-cell battery system that promises a broader range than conventional electric vehicle batteries.

The report does not clarify whether Apple is designing the vehicle itself or looking for investors in the actual development of the EV, but it does say, quoting "two people familiar with the effort," that it would be a personal, mass-market vehicle rather than a robotaxis or a commercial vehicle. It also said that the car, as a self-driving vehicle, "might" have lidar sensors and noted that the recently launched iPhone 12 Pro and iPad Pro both have Apple-developed lidar sensors in it. But the project will come up with obstacles and take Apple out of its comfort zone to set up new supply chains that would allow it to manufacture vehicles rather than electronic gadgets.

Apple Car History

Apple's interest in a car dates back to before the first iPhone, and Apple executives explored creating a car before the smartphone was launched. Steve Jobs considered designing an Apple car and even visited the maker of a lightweight, low-cost "V-Vehicle" in 2010, but said that he personally opted not to work on a car in 2008, opting instead to concentrate on iPhone production. Apple started working on this project back in 2014 dubbed "Project Titan," with more than 1,000 workers working on the production of an electric car (what could possibly be called iCar) in a hidden location near the Cupertino headquarters. The iPhone maker snatched vehicle engineers from Porsche, Tesla and other automakers, including Alexander Hitzinger, who recently left the company and returned to the VW Community to lead its own Artemis project.

Reuters believes the Apple Car might be able to go into production in 2024 if Apple's plans were to stay on track, but there's still plenty of scope for the project to be scaled down.