Apple Car might not drive off the lot before 2028

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An Apple Car is supposedly in development, though it probably won‘t look anything like this.
A driverless vehicle from Apple might not hit the roads for close to a decade.
Graphic: hatzfeld/Pixabay CC/Cult of Mac

A respected Apple analyst and prognosticator threw cold water on recent reports about a future Apple Car arriving in the next few years. Ming-Chi Kuo says it’s possible a self-driving vehicle from Apple could land in 2025, but he wouldn’t be surprised if the launch doesn’t happen before 2028.

The TF International Securities’ analyst is responding to a recent Reuters report that an Apple Car might go into production in 2024. Since that report, AAPL shares rose 7.7% in value.

Kuo talked to sources in the Mac-maker’s supply chain and came up with a very different prediction for a launch date for Apple’s autonomous vehicle. He said in a note to investors, “Our latest survey indicates that the current development schedule of Apple Car is not clear, and if development starts this year and everything goes well, it will be launched in 2025–2027 at the earliest.”

Then the analyst got even more pessimistic. “Due to changes in the EV/self-driving market and Apple’s high-quality standards, we would not be surprised if Apple Car’s launch schedule is postponed to 2028 or later,” said Kuo.

Apple Car trails the pack

Multiple companies are developing their own self-driving vehicles, including Tesla, Google’s parent company Alphabet, Volkswagen, Uber and many more. Kuo warns that some of those seem well ahead of Apple.

“One of our biggest concerns about Apple Car is that when Apple Car is launched, the current self-driving car brands will have accumulated at least five years of big data and be conducive to deep learning/AI. How does Apple, a latecomer, overcome this lagging gap?” asked the analyst.

Apple remains secretive about its driverless car plans, making it difficult for outsiders to judge its progress. Some reports still say the company hasn’t made up its mind whether to concentrate on the technology that underlies autonomous driving or on producing a full vehicle.

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