• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia
TechFortune 500

Apple Car Might Have Already Been Delayed a Year

By
Don Reisinger
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Don Reisinger
Down Arrow Button Icon
July 21, 2016, 12:50 PM ET
File photo of Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook at an event for students to learn to write computer code at the Apple store in the Manhattan borough of New York
Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook speaks during an event for students to learn to write computer code at the Apple store in the Manhattan borough of New York in this December 9, 2015 file photo. Apple Chief Executive Officer Cook said his company opposed a demand from a U.S. judge to help the FBI break into an iPhone recovered from one of the San Bernardino shooters. Cook said that the demand threatened the security of Apple's customers and had "implications far beyond the legal case at hand." REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/Files TPX IMAGES OF THE DAYCARLO ALLEGRI - REUTERS

The Apple Car doesn’t even technically exist, but it’s already been delayed, according to a new report.

In a look at brothers working on Apple’s (AAPL) ultra-secret car project said to be called Project Titan, technology site The Information revealed that Apple has delayed its vehicle to 2021. Several rumors have claimed Apple had planned a 2020 launch for Apple Car, but The Information’s sources say that the project has “run into challenges,” and that a person who had worked on the Project Titan team confirmed Apple has pushed back its target launch from 2020 to 2021.

Over the last couple of years, reports have surfaced saying Apple is working on an electric car that could come with self-driving features. While the company itself hasn’t acknowledged those claims, Apple CEO Tim Cook has been coy when talk of an Apple Car has popped up, leaks have come fast and furious from the Project Titan team, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has described Apple’s car project as the “worst-kept secret” in Silicon Valley. He’s even called Apple “Tesla’s Graveyard,” a place where Tesla engineers go when they can’t hack it at Musk’s company.

Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s technology newsletter

Analysts, too, have chimed in, saying that Apple, which experienced its first revenue decline since the iPhone’s launch in 2007 last quarter, is in need of a major new innovation. A car, they suggest, would fit that mold.

However, developing a car is much different than making a new smartphone or computer, and it’s an entirely new industry for Apple. The company has reportedly hired a countless number of engineers with experience in vehicle technology and its chief of design, Jony Ive, has reportedly been doing research on car design. That all comes before Apple bundles electric vehicle technology, safety standards, and all the other features required to get a car on the road.

Indeed, some that have worked in the automotive industry for years have criticized Apple’s idea. Last year, former General Motors CEO Dan Akerson said Apple shouldn’t even build a car due to high costs and low returns. Another former GM executive, Bob Lutz, told CNBC in September that Apple is looking down the barrel of a “gigantic money pit.”

“Apple has no experience,” Lutz said. “There’s no reason to assume Apple will do a better job than General Motors, Ford, Volkswagen, Toyota or Hyundai. I think this is going to be a gigantic money pit.”

For more about Apple Car, watch:

Regardless, if The Information’s sources are right, Apple is still moving ahead with the car. It just might not reach the roads nearly as soon as some, including Apple, might have liked.

Apple declined Fortune’s request for comment on The Information’s story.

About the Author
By Don Reisinger
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • Future 50
  • World’s Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
Sections
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Success
  • Tech
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • Environment
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Health
  • Retail
  • Lifestyle
  • Politics
  • Newsletters
  • Magazine
  • Features
  • Commentary
  • Mpw
  • CEO Initiative
  • Conferences
  • Personal Finance
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
About Us
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map

© 2025 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.


Latest in Tech

AIRecruiting
To ease recruiters’ fears of being replaced by AI, Zillow experimented with ‘prompt-a-thons.’ Now the real estate giant has 6 new recruitment tools
By Paige McGlauflin and HR BrewJanuary 6, 2026
10 hours ago
zhan, deepak
AIRobotics
Robots are really advancing because they’re learning to think for themselves—and they’re close to figuring out door handles, execs say
By Nick LichtenbergJanuary 6, 2026
11 hours ago
LawAmazon
Amazon is cutting checks to millions of customers as part of a $2.5 billion FTC settlement. Here’s who qualifies and how to get paid
By Sydney LakeJanuary 6, 2026
13 hours ago
InvestingU.S. economy
Ray Dalio says AI is in ‘the early stages of a bubble,’ so watch out for 2026
By Tristan BoveJanuary 6, 2026
13 hours ago
musk
AISocial Media
Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot draws global backlash for generating sexualized images of women and children without consent
By Kelvin Chan and The Associated PressJanuary 6, 2026
13 hours ago
Databricks CEO Ali Ghodsi speaking on stage at a Fortune tech conference.
AIEye on AI
Want AI agents to work better? Improve the way they retrieve information, Databricks says
By Jeremy KahnJanuary 6, 2026
13 hours ago

Most Popular

placeholder alt text
Personal Finance
Janet Yellen warns the $38 trillion national debt is testing a red line economists have feared for decades
By Eva RoytburgJanuary 5, 2026
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Success
Blackstone exec says elite Ivy League degrees aren’t good enough—new analysts need to 'work harder' and be nice 
By Ashley LutzJanuary 5, 2026
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
AI
Experienced software developers assumed AI would save them a chunk of time. But in one experiment, their tasks took 20% longer
By Sasha RogelbergJanuary 5, 2026
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Personal Finance
Current price of silver as of Monday, January 5, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJanuary 5, 2026
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Economy
Mark Cuban on the $38 trillion national debt and the absurdity of U.S. healthcare: we wouldn't pay for potato chips like this
By Nick LichtenbergJanuary 6, 2026
15 hours ago
placeholder alt text
Future of Work
Bank of America CEO says he hired 2,000 recent Gen Z grads from 200,000 applications, and many are scared about the future
By Ashley LutzJanuary 3, 2026
4 days ago