Apple Car Research and Development Costs Expected to Top $10 Billion This Year

We know, with near certainty, that Apple is currently working on a self-driving car of some sort. The company’s daring endeavor into the competitive automotive industry, which has been codenamed internally as ‘Project Titan.’ We know, at this point, that Apple has been investing heavily in research, development, and real estate, in order to facilitate it’s autonomous automobile, which, as far as we know, is expected to launch as early as 2019.

But a new report today, coming to us courtesy of Above Avalon analyst, Neil Cybert, takes an even greater, in-depth look at just how much horsepower Apple is throwing behind it’s automotive ambitions (no pun intended).

In particular, Cybert believes, Apple is expected to spend upwards of $10 billion over the course of the next year — primarily on R&D for products and concepts that are currently still in development. That’s a major increase in spending over years past, though.

For comparison’s sake, Apple was spending approximately $3 billion per year, just four years ago, in the same research and development department — indicating that, as Apple draws closer to the highly anticipated 2019 unveiling, R&D spending will only continue to increase, as the Cupertino-company fine-tunes and perfects it’s big foray into the automotive industry.

“Apple is not spending $10 billion on R&D just to come up with new Watch bands, larger iPads, or a video streaming service. Instead, Apple is planning on something much bigger: a pivot into the automobile industry,” said Cybert in his analysis.

Cybert notes, in particular, that Apple’s R&D spending has tended to spike ahead of big product launches — such as the unveiling of new iPhones and iPads or the Apple Watch. He’s also clear that Apple’s abrupt uptick in spending is likely a telltale indication that the company is secretly working on “other, peripheral projects,” such as ‘Project Titan’ — as the Silicon Valley tech-giant continues to amass swaths of real estate, testing space, and hire a slew of top industry executives and engineers to work on the “secret” project.

“It was recently revealed that Apple has set up a web of Project Titan buildings and infrastructure spread across Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, and San Jose. This means that it is incorrect to think of Project Titan as just being about one product or one feature. Instead, Apple is building an entire start-up focused on the electric car industry, giving me a high level of confidence that Apple’s efforts will lead to products.

When diving deeper into Project Titan, this is where there is greater unknown as to whether a certain technology will ever ship, such as various autonomous driving features, different features for new internal passenger compartments, unique car materials, and the list goes on. Each one of those items should be thought of as an individual project that may not see the light of day.”

Just as the iPhone was back in 2007, and the iPad was in 2010, Cybert notes, Apple’s Car will be yet another major turning point for the Cupertino-company — as it seeks to establish itself as a player in the highly-competitive automotive industry.

“There is one very simple reason for my high degree of confidence: Project Titan is a long-term pivot. I don’t consider Titan to be just another project that Apple has been tinkering around with in the lab for years like an Apple television set or Apple Pencil. Instead, Project Titan is much more about building a foundation for Apple that will literally represent the company’s future.”

Well, like we said: it’s all but clear by now that Apple is working on ‘something’ big, and, given the publicity Cupertino has received thus far, it’s a near certainty that this mystery product is the Apple Car. Of course, this massive amount of spending should, if anything, be a clear indication that as we draw closer, not only will spending likely increase even more, but the rumor mill will likely kick into overdrive, too.

What do you think about Apple’s self-driving Car ambitions? Could you ever see yourself investing in one? Let us know in the comments!

Featured Photo Copyright: Tramino

[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.]