Apple registers domains tied to cars

The speculation around an Apple auto has been happening in earnest over the a year ago. According to Whois records, which were updated on January 8, the Apple registered domains were done through sponsoring registrar MarkMonitor Inc.in December 2015, however, the domains aren’t active just yet.

Apple registered a trio of domains related to cars, the latest signal the tech giant may make a major push into the autos market. Multiple reports over the past year said Apple has a secretive team of hundreds working on an electric vehicle with a prospective 2019 or 2020 shipping date.

The three domains are apple.car, apple.cars, and apple.auto, as reported by MacRumors.

Other telling signs include Apple going on a hiring spree and bringing in numerous engineers and executives with deep business and technical expertise across all areas of the vehicle development and manufacturing process, including employees from companies such as Tesla and BMW.

For now, an Apple Car, if it is indeed being developed, is most likely a long, long way off; we also know that Cupertino tests and scraps countless product ideas – it could therefore be that the Apple Car never sees the light of day. As alluded to earlier, it may be domain squatting to prevent hoaxes, but there’s too much evidence Apple is working on something automotive to think that’s the only reason it snapped these domains up.