We’ve been digging for info on the supposed Apple iCar for years, and like clockwork, we’re now getting another new rumor that goes to support claims that the tech giant has its own proprietary automobile in the works. The latest points to Apple’s poaching of Andrew Kim, a designer from Tesla, which reinforces the idea that we may see an Apple-branded EV in the near future.
Apple Takes A Bite Out Of Tesla
Andrew Kim just joined ranks with Apple this month. His previous occupations include a design role with Microsoft where he worked on the Xbox One S and the UI for the Windows 10 operating system.
After Microsoft, Kim went to work as a senior designer at Tesla, where he provided a hand in creating pretty much the entire stable outside of the first-gen Roadster, including the Model S, the Model X, the Model 3, the Tesla Semi truck, and the second-generation Roadster.
This isn’t the first time we’ve heard about Tesla employees leaving to work for Apple. Back in 2015, Business Insider reported it had received an anonymous email from an Apple employee that claimed the company was working on a product that would “give Tesla a run for its money,” and that Tesla employees were “jumping ship” to work on a secret Apple project that was “too exciting to pass up.”
Speculative reports dubbed the secret new product “Project Titan, ” and that Apple had devoted an entire top-secret research lab to the cause.
The poaching was so pervasive, Elon Musk was compelled to remark on it in an interview with the BBC saying, “It’s pretty hard to hide something if you hire over a thousand engineers to do it.”
“They have hired people we’ve fired. We always jokingly call Apple the ‘Tesla Graveyard.’ If you don’t make it at Tesla, you go work at Apple,” Musk said in a separate interview with the German publication Handelsblatt. Musk later retracted the statement.
Either way, all signs seem to point to Apple working on something related to cars, electric propulsion, and advanced autonomous drive systems.
As I see it, more competition in this space is a good thing, and with Apple’s vast resources coming to bear, plus a history of market-changing products, there’s a very good chance such a thing would leave us impressed. A streamlined design, loads of range, oodles of screens inside, and a self-driving mode that beats out even Tesla’s best is what we’re imagining.
Would such a product tempt you? Why or why not? Let us know in the comments section below.
Further Reading
Read our full speculative review on the 2021 Apple iCar.
Apple Wants to Link the Batteries of Self-Driving Electric Cars In the Name of Range and Efficiency.