Apple was granted permission to test its autonomous vehicle on public roads in California back in 2017, which was a huge step forward for the tech giant and its self-driving car. However, approximately two years later, Apple decided to scale down the project and remove about 200 people from it, leaving doubts about the future of the plan. It turns out Apple is not only still working on the car, but it’s reportedly two years ahead of schedule.
A sketchy report from Taiwan, brought to our attention by MacRumors, claims that a number of Taiwanese parts suppliers have started preparing to ramp up for production of the Apple car. Companies such as Heda, BizLink-KY, Heqin, and Tomita are believed to be working on components that should be delivered during the first two quarters of 2021, before the final product makes its full debut in September 2021.
This new report is contrary to previous reports which claimed Apple is in early talks with suppliers about the components it’ll need for the new autonomous vehicle. The exact development stage of the project remains a mystery for now but this new report seems to suggest the tech giant is very close to the final R&D and testing phases.
Of course, you should take this speculation with a healthy dose of salt but that doesn’t mean we are not intrigued just like you. If at least a small part of it is correct, this means the Apple car is still alive and we could even see an early preview of the final production version next year. For now though, we have no actual evidence that something is happening next year.
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