From smartphones to the open road, the self-driving car bearing the Apple name could soon become a reality. So says the Reuters news agency, according to which the Cupertino company is aiming to deliver one of its founder's great dreams by 2025. And that's not all: the company created by Steve Jobs is said to be focusing on a new type of battery capable of taking up less space and offering greater range — a "next level" technology, a source confided to the British outlet, comparable to "the first time the iPhone appeared on the market".

Apple's first car project dates back to 2014

If the rumours were confirmed, we would be witnessing a new turning point in a decidedly troubled story. It was back in 2014 that Apple first announced its interest in the automotive market, with the goal of bringing its own car to market by 2020; just a couple of years later the company seemed to have definitively abandoned the project of developing an actual vehicle, in order to focus on self-driving software adaptable to models from various manufacturers.

Now, however, it appears that Cupertino has reassessed its objectives, entrusting the revival of the old project to Doug Field, a company veteran with a past working at Tesla. The conditional is a must, because Apple's plans are not public; and although we are talking about a true giant, building a vehicle from scratch is nonetheless an extremely demanding challenge — as Elon Musk knows well, having waited more than 15 years before turning a solid profit with Tesla. As a person who worked on the project years ago explained to Reuters, "if there's one company on the planet that has the resources to do it, it's probably Apple. But at the same time, we're not talking about a mobile phone."

New batteries mean less bulk and more range

In all likelihood, the company's first self-driving car will be equipped with lidar sensors capable of determining the distances of surrounding objects and providing a three-dimensional view of the road: a technology already being developed in-house, given that the Apple iPhone 12 Pro and iPad Pro models put on sale in 2020 are both fitted with this type of sensor. At the heart of the company's strategy is also a new "monocell" battery design, which could radically reduce its cost and bulk while simultaneously increasing the vehicle's range; Apple is also said to be considering a lithium iron phosphate (lfp) accumulator which, being less prone to overheating, could be safer than other lithium-ion batteries.

The Reuters reports caused considerable stir, but the company hid behind a "no comment" and investors too reacted with caution. To sustain the costs of an assembly plant, after all, production must exceed 100,000 vehicles a year. For this reason, some are ready to bet that the company will ultimately scale back the scope of its efforts, focusing on self-driving software to be integrated with a car produced by a traditional carmaker.