Apple signals delivery of electric auto by 2019, report says

The company has been in talks for more than a year over how to realize the idea of an Apple vehicle – meetings that included state officials in California.

Apple has not commented on the Journal report. Now that it’s earned that designation, Apple will let leaders of the Titan effort triple its 600-person team.

Apple has hired experts in driverless cars, but apparently doesn’t expect to make its first vehicle fully autonomous.

Apple has long been rumoured to be working on such a vehicle, which reportedly has the internal codename Project Titan.

While Apple has never officially confirmed it is planning to build a vehicle, there are strong indications it is at least interested in automotive technology.

While Apple is rumored to be interested in making computerized cars that can drive themselves, the first version will require motorists to be in control, WSJ reported. This project has been tipped by anonymous insiders, otherwise known as “people familiar with the matter” speaking with the Wall Street Journal this morning.

The WSJ also reports that 2019 might not even be the “ship date” and more like the year engineers will sign off on the car’s main features. Apple could potentially align itself with Tesla-now a competitor-or opt to to sell its cars through the conventional route and relinquish some control over its brand and pricing. This suggests that the company would opt for a contract manufacturing to deliver its electric vehicle, though this has not been a trend in the auto industry. The thought process is bolstered by their prior advances in developing and improving iPhones with technology in sectors such as batteries, sensors and hardware-software integration.