Reuters: Apple wants to bring self-driving cars to market by 2024

Apple would like to market its own self-driving, electric car in 2024, Reuters news agency claims. The car should scan the environment with lidar scanners, while the car should have a lithium iron phosphate battery.

Apple initially only wanted to focus on the software, but two Reuters sources now say the electronics manufacturer wants to develop its own car with the aim of releasing it within four years, although the corona pandemic could cause production to start a little later.

It would be a car for the consumer market, not a taxi service such as Waymo, for example, has in mind. The lidar scanners that the car should contain would be derived from the cool sensors that Apple has put in the iPad Pro and iPhone 12 Pro this year. It would involve multiple sensors to measure objects at multiple distances.

Apple is also aiming for a battery breakthrough with a lithium-iron-phosphate battery with ‘monocell’ design that should reduce the space that the battery takes up. As a result, a battery with a higher capacity would fit in the car and that should lead to a greater range for the car.

It is still unknown whether Apple would produce the car itself or eventually leave it to a partner company. Apple has not responded to the rumor. Rumors about an Apple car have been going on for years and Apple has previously confirmed that it is working on technology for self-driving cars.