Apple’s eagerly awaited contribution to electric cars has been hovering above the horizon like a heat mirage since the beginning of 2014, when rumors about it were first reported.
The Apple Car is a potential project that could be California’s largest yet. However, very little information has been released about its plans.
However, there are signs that the company is making progress, including ongoing testing of the self-driving technology around Cupertino using a fleet sensor-laden Lexus SUVs and the filing of a variety of patents.
These are the key insights that experts used to predict the Apple Car’s design and revolutionary features, which could include a touchscreen dashboard or a Siri-like “intelligent assistant” (intelligent).
Brought to life by artists with the UK car leasing firm Vanarama, the gorgeous mock-up has the sleek, minimalist lines that make Apple’s tech offerings so distinctive, down to the glowing Apple logo on the radiator grille.
Apple’s eagerly awaited contribution to electric cars has been shimmering like a heat mirage over the road ahead ever since early 2014, when rumours first surfaced.
Vanarama’s designers imagined a sleek interior with a customisable and tactile touchscreen interface instead of a traditional dashboard.
A diagram taken from Apple’s patent depicting a reconfigurable instrument panel display in an automobile. The patent depicts only a portion of Vanarama’s dashboard, which is not the case in Vanarama’s.
Vanarama experts have anticipated what the Apple Car could look like (pictured) and the features it might sport — from a customisable touchscreen dashboard to a Siri-like ‘intelligent automated assistant’ — based on real-life patent filings
Andy Alderson CEO Vanarama, said that “rumours of an Apple-designed car started in 2014” and has gained momentum ever since.
“It’s a huge deal in the automotive industry, as well as beyond. Here at Vanarama, we are eager to see the Apple Car.”
To give us an idea, I searched the official Apple patents. Then I combined the aesthetics and design cues that we have come to expect from Apple. This is how we envision the Apple car.
“Although it is impossible to predict what the final product will look like without patents, they are likely the most reliable indicator of the direction Apple is going.”
The stand-out patented concept that seems most likely to be realised in the Apple Car is a sleek touchscreen interface — one which Vanarama has imagined sweeping across the totality of the vehicle’s dashboard.
According to the patent, the interface will offer tactile feedback and will be both ‘stylistically attractive’ and fully ‘customizable by the user’.
Apple calls it the ‘Reconfigurable Tactile Control Display. It is also cheaper than conventional instrument panels. This could make it useful in many other areas such as control systems for military vehicles and home automation systems.
The mockup of Apple’s car shows the vehicle without clear boundaries. Vanarama proposes that the dashboard could detect the occupants’ smartwatches or phones to load customized interface layouts and suggest possible destinations using satnav-based mapping. It might even create custom playlists for each step.
A number of other patents, meanwhile, hint at the potential for the Apple Car to have an unusual car body structure, with no central door pillars and rear coach doors — such as seen on some Lincoln Continentals and the modern Rolls-Royce Ghost — allowing for easier passenger entry via a ‘continuous opening’.
The forward seat of the vehicle is envisioned as being capable of swiveling fully around to face passengers at the back. These are then separated by a table-like divider.
The internal flexibility of this car could allow for a social travel experience, even when it is self-driving. However, the driver can still turn the wheel and take control if necessary.
Alongside the expectations of an autonomous mode for the Apple Car, another patent hints at a Siri-like ‘intelligent automated assistant’ that — alongside responding to direct commands and requests — would also be able to monitor the vehicle’s environment and either react or offer recommendations to the driver accordingly.
Andy Alderson from Vanarama, CEO of Vanarama, stated that the rumours surrounding an Apple-designed car started in 2014. They have grown momentum ever since. It has been a huge deal within the automotive industry, as well as elsewhere. Vanarama was eager to discover what the Apple Car might look like.
A number of patents unearthed by Vanarama hint at the potential for the Apple Car to have an unusual car body structure, with no central door pillars and rear coach doors (as pictured) — such as seen on some Lincoln Continentals and the modern Rolls-Royce Ghost — allowing for easier passenger entry via a ‘continuous opening’
Apple patent US10309132B1 depicts a passenger vehicle with a rear door carriage door and no central door support pillars.
Apple patent US10384519B1 – An adaptive door positioning system using a rear carriagedoor and without central pillars
Imagine the forward seat being able to pivot fully to face the rear passengers. They are divided by a sleek table-shaped divider. This flexible design could allow for more people to travel when the car’s self-driving function is activated. However, the driver can still turn the wheel and take control of the vehicle when necessary.
Vanarama created the radiator grill at the front of their mockup in order to replicate the ventilation holes of the Mac Pro servers and workstations.
The centre of the grill, meanwhile, is bedecked with a backlit Apple logo — as long adorned the lids of many MacBook models — a motif replicated on the steering column, leather headrests, rear lights and wheel hubs.
You can see Vanarama’s 3D rendering of the Apple Car via its virtual product reveal on their website.
Vanarama’s artists created the radiator grill at the front of this mockup to match the ventilation holes in the Mac Pro servers and workstations (right).
Alongside the expectations of an autonomous mode for the Apple Car, another patent hints at a Siri-like ‘intelligent automated assistant’ that — alongside responding to direct commands and requests — would also be able to monitor the vehicle’s environment and either react or offer recommendations to the driver accordingly
“We sought out official patents that Apple had filed and combined these with design cues and aesthetics that we have come to expect from Apple. Alderson explained that the result was our vision for an Apple car.
“Although it is almost impossible to know what the final product will look like, [Apple Car]These patents may be the most accurate indication of the direction Apple will take, Mr Alderson stated.