You Didn’t Want an Apple Car Anyway

Back at the end of February, we learned Apple had finally killed its decades-long self-driving electric car project, codenamed Project Titan. For over 10 years, Apple had made slow progress towards its goal of adding a vehicle to its product lineup, with the ultimate dream of passengers being able to use their iPhones, iPads, and Macs in an Apple Car without any of them actually needing to drive.

While it seems the iCar will never hit Apple Stores, we are able to glean insight into what it may have looked like. In fact, we know about two of the design inspirations for Project Titan, thanks to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. And the results are, admittedly, not very “Apple.”

According to Gurman’s sources, the concept behind both designs was a “contoured bubble”: Four riders would be able to sit inside the vehicle with seats modeled after high-end transportation options, like private jets and limousines. From here, the actual design of the car could’ve gone in one of two directions: The first, designed around 2020, was modeled after the Canoo Lifestyle Vehicle (pictured below), a rounded minivan that admittedly looks like something out of Black Mirror, or any other Netflix-produced sci-fi flick.

Specifically, Gurman’s source says this version of the Apple car looked like, “a futuristic van with rounded edges—but it had dark black windows with an adjustable tint. There was [an] all-glass sunroof, a pure white exterior and whitewall tires with a black center. The front and back were identical, so it would always look like you were driving forward.”

Credit: Canoo

The second style was started by Jony Ive, former Chief Design Officer for Apple, whose 1950s Volkswagen Microbus design earned the nickname “Bread Loaf.” I can’t lie: I kind of love it. This one is giving “iMac of cars,” and I can’t help but feel like I’d be very tempted to buy one if I were in this imaginary Apple car market.

Credit: Santosh Puthran/Flickr

However, the designed morphed again, this time into something resembling the 2017 Volkswagen ID Buzz. (I don’t like this one as much.) Gurman says this design was demoed internally before VW ever announced their car, which is interesting, since some Project Titan employees reportedly moved to VW in the mid-2010s.

Credit: Motor1/YouTube

That’s all we know right now. But between the two solid designs Apple was running with, neither feels very Apple, at least not what you’d imagine when you’d think of an Apple Car. Most of us were probably thinking something sleek and sporty, not boxy, roomy, and convenient. But maybe Apple was more interesting in the car for everyone than the car for people who love to brag. Who am I kidding: Apple Car owners would brag no matter what the car looked like.