Apple auto on the way in 2019

Seven months after reports surfaced that Apple was looking closely at building electric cars by the end of the decade, the company is again being mentioned as pursuing an electric vehicle strategy by 2019.

Even though there are several companies pioneering driverless technology, Google is by far Apple’s biggest threat, as the Android-touting brand has been testing autonomous vehicles on public roads since 2012.

While 2019 is being cited as a “ship date”, this refers to the date that engineers sign off on the product’s main features rather than when customers might actually be driving an Apple-designed auto. The Wall Street Journal has had its journalistic finger on the pulse of the Titan project since the beginning, and a new report sheds a little more light on the timeline of this secret research.

The project, known as “Titan”, has also received the permission to triple its personnel count from the current 600-people team, according to the people that have knowledge of the matter. That includes an electric motor, a factory to build its cars in, and tons of regulatory bodies in the government.

In May, Apple expressed interest in booking time at a track east of San Francisco to test autonomous and connected vehicles. As Digital Trends reports, Apple has named the endeavor Project Titan and is moving full steam ahead with the plan. Since then, the company has made some high-profile hires including Fiat Chrysler’s Doug Betts and autonomous vehicle researcher Paul Furgale.

It’s believed that Apple hopes to apply its expertise developed creating products such as iPhones – in fields including batteries, sensors and hardware/software integraton – to the automotive industry.