Apple Reportedly Plans to Develop Apple Car EV Independently to Avoid Delays, Currently Selecting Suppliers

Apple reportedly plans to develop its electric vehicle independently and not rely on other car companies.

According to sources said to be familiar with Apple’s plans speaking to Korea’s Maeil Economic Daily (via MacRumors), the Cupertino company is developing its Apple Car EV independently and is currently in the process of selecting final parts suppliers.

The report is in line with a previous report from Reuters, which explained Apple has had its own automobile hardware research and development department since 2014, but in an attempt to avoid development challenges had sought partnerships with BMW, Hyundai, Nissan, and Toyota.

Meanwhile, the vehicle hardware research and development unit stopped operating sometime around 2016, although self-driving software research continued.

“The talks with automakers apparently fell apart due to repeated delays and the wider industry transformation toward electric vehicles slowing down the progress of any joint development and production agreement,” reads the MacRumors report. “There was also reluctance from some large automakers about becoming a manufacturing subcontractor for Apple. Apple is believed to have decided that it could not delay the launch of its car any further.”

As such, Apple again relied on its internal development teams, restoring the full operational capacity of its vehicle research unit.

According to MacRumors, Apple has now sent a Request for Information (RFI), Request for Proposal (RFP), and Request for Quotation (RFQ) to global automobile part manufacturers, a signal that the final suppliers are being selected for outsourced production.