(Photo : Drew Angerer/Getty Images) People walk past an Apple retail store in Downtown Brooklyn, January 29, 2019 in New York City. Apple is set to report first-quarter earnings results after U.S. markets close on Tuesday.

There were Apple TV and Apple Watch. And now Apple Car might be in the works too as rumors circulated that the tech giant was once again considering its own car brand.

Rumors on this Apple's possible advancement have been around for years, but no confirmation has been drawn out since.

The Apple Car might now be closer to reality than most expect it as Reuters reported that the target production date is set in 2024. But this date may still be pushed back to beyond 2025 because of the pandemic.

The report also said the Apple Car might be a self-driving passenger vehicle with its own breakthrough battery technology. 

Apple Car Plans Still Vague

The Verge noted that the reports on a possible Apple Car are still vague when or if the vehicle will start taking shape.

Reports only give a framework of Apple's supposed idea on the automotive. Unlike its competitor, Alphabet's Waymo that built robo-taxis for driverless ride-hailing, Apple wants to create personal vehicles for the mass market.

There was also an emphasis on the company's strategy to new "monocell" batteries that would "radically" reduce the battery-operated vehicles' cost and increase its range, a source who has seen the Apple's battery design said.

The new design could allow more capacity to be fit into the unit by not dividing it into discrete cells, said The Verge. 

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Apple relied mostly on third parties for its self-driving technology components, including its light detection and ranging (LIDAR) systems.

There haven't been any true self-driving vehicles yet, but some cars, like those from Tesla, offer advanced driver assistance in certain situations.

If an Apple Car does materialize during the said time, it will be facing some regulatory hurdles before it will be allowed for mass usage.

Despite vague reports, the latest update made it clear that Apple was still looking forward to an automotive arm even though the effort was briefly shut down. 

Apple Car Efforts Started Roughly

The iPhone maker had been trying to develop its own car through an effort known as Project Titan. But it started off unevenly as it attempted to make its vehicle design from scratch.

Project Titan was halted for some time in 2016 as the parent company tried to focus more on software and reassessing its goals.

The team had a massive layoff in 2019 when Apple veteran Doug Field, who worked for Tesla Inc., returned to oversee the project in 2018. 

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It went through several leaderships but is now under John Giannandrea, Apple's AI and machine learning chief, preceded by Bob Mansfield.

Giannandrea initially worked on Apple's virtual assistance Siri after previously working for Google. More than six years have already passed since the project's conception, and the company appeared to be progressing towards its goal to have automotive, said an article from Mac Rumors.

It has since been working with different teams for various aspects of the autonomous driving software. A Canadian team will be helping in the development of the base operating system.

At the same time, another will develop software to run the car, such as head-up display and self-driving features.

Reuters's sources asked not to be named since the company's plans were not public yet. Apple also declined to comment on its future products.