Reports State Apple Is Running a New Secret Car Lab in Berlin

With all of the talk of new iPhones, iPads, and MacBooks being released this year, it’s been a bit since we’ve heard news about Apple’s top-secret “Project Titan”. Last February, over a year ago now, the Wall Street Journal originally reported that Apple has assembled a team of experts from Tesla, Ford, Mercedes Benz, and other auto companies to design and build an Apple-branded automobile. The project, known as “Project Titan”, now employs over 2,000 workers.

This past February, residents near Apple’s Sunnyvale campus filed a complaint with city officials about late-night “motor noises” that were emanating from the property. Now there are rumors of another top-secret facility where Apple employees are working on the project, this time coming from Germany.

Apple Car Mock-Up

According to German publication Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Apple is running a “secret laboratory for the development of an automobile” in the middle of Berlin. The report claims that the facility currently employs 15-20 professionals from the automotive industry with backgrounds in engineering, software, hardware, and sales. While no names were mentioned, the article describes the employees as progressive thinkers, whose innovative ideas were shut down by their previous employers.

The report also claims that Apple will likely enlist Magna Steyr, an Austrian-based automobile manufacturer to aid in the production of the vehicle. Magna Steyr helps develop, engineer, and assemble automobiles for other companies – the company is responsible for the Audi TT, Fiat Bravo, BMW X3, and Peugeot RCZ, among others. This claim coincides with rumors that surfaced last February about Apple executives meeting with Magna Steyr regarding the automobile.

Although Tesla founder Elon Musk branded the project an “open secret” in Silicon Valley, Apple has obviously been hush-hush regarding “Project Titan”. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung claims that the Apple car will likely see the light of day sometime in 2019 or 2020, once again coinciding with rumors from last year that “people familiar with the matter” claim that Apple is shooting for a 2019 target ship date. 

Learn More: Motor Trend Has Created an Apple Car Concept and It’s Really, Really Weird

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