Apple’s Electric Car News: Project Titan to Come Out in 2019, Tech Company Expedites Development

There has been a lot of activity lately at Apple, specifically geared towards the development of Titan, the tech company's codename for its electric car project. According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple aims to release Project Titan to the public in 2019.

In accordance with the due date, Apple has given the team working on Titan the permission to hire more personnel, reports Quartz. Currently, the team in charge of Apple's electric car division is comprised of 600 people. The tech company wants the Titan team to triple their man-power to 1,800 in order to meet the deadline.

After receiving the green light from the big boss, the Project Titan team started hiring a number of automotive engineers. According to USA Today, some of the newly employed engineers have come from Tesla, which is Elon Musk's electric car division.

Gizmodo notes that it would might still be impossible for Apple to have an electric car ready for public use by 2019, despite the increased man-power and the 4-year deadline. So, the site believes that the 2019 due date calls for the finalization of Project Titan, rather than a ready to sell product.

Apple's electric car will reportedly be an autonomous vehicle, following the current trend in automotive development, reports The Guardian. Just last month, the tech company had a meeting with officials from California's department of motor vehicles (DMV) to allegedly discuss the self-driving car.

Mike Maletic, Apple's senior legal counsel, had a meeting with several of the self-driving car experts at the DMV based in California. Present for the meeting was Bernard Soriano (DMV deputy director), Stephanie Dougherty (chief of strategic planning) and Brian Soublet (the department's deputy director and chief counsel).

Doughterty and Soriano are both sponsors of the autonomous vehicle regulation project in the state of California. The project aims to set safety rules and regulations for the upcoming list of autonomous vehicles, which includes self-driving cars from Google and Uber.

The guidelines will define certain criteria all autonomous vehicles must meet before being released and sold to the public. Maletic's meeting with the autonomous car experts was supposedly to review the California DMV's regulations and criteria for self-driving cars.

Apple will have to work closely with the California DMV in the future if it ever hopes to see Project Titan on the streets. The California DMA issues permits for an autonomous vehicles tester program, which allows companies to test their self-driving cars on streets within state borders. To get the permit, Apple will have to divulge various information about Project Titan, including its autonomous features and capabilities.

Are you excited to see Apple's own electric car?