Apple Wins Vehicle Door Hinge and Seat Patents, Likely for Car Project

The United States Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday granted two new patents to Apple — one for a “multi-linkage vehicle door hinge” and another for a “vehicle seat with reclining mechanism” reports Patently Apple.

Both patents are likely related to the development of the all-electric Apple Car. Reports of Apple working on a fully electric vehicle with autonomous driving capabilities have been surfacing for the better part of a decade now, but they have ramped up significantly as of late.

Apple’s “Multi-linkage vehicle door hinge” is U.S. Patent number 11,214,997, while the “Vehicle seat with a reclining mechanism” is U.S. Patent number 11,214,180.

According to recent reports, Apple will be developing its electric car itself instead of relying on third-party automakers to avoid delays in production. The company is especially focused on the Apple Car’s self-driving capabilities.

What’s more, Apple has fleshed out its workforce with several automotive industry veterans in recent years — the Cupertino, California-based tech giant poached Porsche’s VP of Chassis Development, and has hired the head of electric powertrains and a former Autopilot engineer from electric vehicle (EV) pioneer Tesla, among others.

Market experts are already predicting that Apple will sell around 1.5 million units of its electric car by 2030, generating $50 billion USD in revenue. Renowned Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo expects the car to launch sometime in 2025-27 “at the earliest.”