In Silicon Valley, Apple’s Car Project Is No Secret

For quite some time now rumors have been circulating, among tech gurus and the internet alike, that Apple is creating an electric car behind closed doors. But there have been so many hints and speculations that the project is essentially an “open secret” according to Tesla founder Elon Musk.

The fact that Apple has been consistently working on an electric (and possibly autonomous) car, revealed as “Project Titan” by the Wall Street Journal in February of last year, is hardly a secret with anyone involved in either the tech or the automobile industry. And Musk certainly hasn’t been quiet after many of his employees left to go and join Apple on “Project Titan”.

“Well it’s pretty hard to hide something if you hire over a thousand engineers to do it,” Musk said to Apple Insider. Which isn’t a lie: Apple has been gregarious in hiring engineers, software programmers, and others for this project. In fact, they’ve been on such an aggressive hiring spree that they have put some smaller companies in jeopardy.

But that’s not all Apple has done in the quest to build their car. The Guardian revealed that Apple had met with California’s DMV to discuss regulations and plans surrounding their car, and most recently, Apple purchased the domain names “apple.car,” “apple.auto” and “apple.cars”.

Musk understands that Apple’s car will be in direct competition with Tesla, but he openly welcomes another electric car model because it will help open up the market. He doesn’t see an Apple automobile as a direct threat to his long-standing electric car company. “Tesla will still aspire to make the most compelling electric vehicles, and that would be our goal, while at the same helping other companies to make electric cars as well,” Musk said in an interview BBC.

Of course, one of the biggest questions is what will it look like? Many artists have taken the liberty of trying to envision what the Apple car will look like and have produced futuristic, sleek, and tech-forward vehicles. We will have to settle with concept drawings for now, and wait until the rumored 2019 release date.

[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]