Apple Car

It has been talked about for years - now unofficial renderings of the Apple Car, reconstructed from registered patents, have been published. According to expert reports, it will come onto the market in 2025 at the earliest. With a high degree of automation and a simple, elegant design, it fits into the company's line.

As mysterious as possible, at least until the official release - that's how we've always known it from the Californian tech giant. However, products such as the iPhone and MacBook are released at largely regular intervals, which is why the annual product announcements via keynote never come as much of a surprise. When it comes to the Apple Car, however, which has been the subject of wild speculation for many years, Apple around CEO Tim Cook keeps a completely low profile - and does not even reveal whether such an undertaking is planned at all. What is striking, however, is that the number of newly registered patents is growing rapidly, especially in the automotive sector, with which the company is clearly not first associated.

The automotive experts at Vanarama, a leasing company founded in the UK in 2016, also took notice of this - and constructed some renderings from the registered patents that indicate a direction in which the IT giant from Cupertino could orient itself. Not surprisingly, the focus is clearly on digital technologies.

The cockpit, for example, is to consist of a screen that extends across the entire width. Full connectivity with smartphone, tablet or similar suggests the app icons and widgets, which hint at a new dimension of the CarPlay system. According to the renderings, even the steering wheel is supposed to have a separate display - in fact, there is no haptic button in the entire cockpit, with the exception of the rotary knob for easy navigation through the various apps. The result is an anachronistic mix of retro design and futuristic flair - with the exception of the exterior mirrors, which you won't find on the Apple Car.

The simply designed, integrally constructed seats can - according to Vanarama's assessment - rotate around their own axis, which could indicate an extended stay function in a stationary state on the one hand and an orientation towards autonomous driving on the other. A rarity is the rear, which does not have a full-length back seat, but is equipped with the same seats. The floor of the interior does not have any elevations at all, which suggests a solid-fuel battery drive; these can be installed in a particularly space-saving way. In addition, the Apple Car is said to manage without door and window beams: The doors open in opposite directions, allowing the sides of the car to be almost completely exposed.

Insiders believe that the Apple Car could be available as early as 2025 if all development steps go according to plan. Whether the design that Vanarama has reconstructed from the patents will ultimately be used remains to be seen: Apple continues to be tight-lipped. It is highly unlikely that this will change in the near future.

More information and an interactive all-round view at Vanarama.