Apple has, according to Bloomberg, pulled the plug on development of its own electric car, having refocused its efforts on instead working on an autonomous driving software platform.
Citing its sources as “people familiar with the project”, Bloomberg says that, under long-time Apple executive Bob Mansfield, the company’s car team has made this strategic change to give itself the flexibility to either partner with existing automakers or later return to making its own vehicle.
Right now, Apple’s best-known publicly available product for automobiles is CarPlay, a software interface that brings much of the iPhone’s functionality to in-car dashboards. As iDownloadBlog details in the video below, Apple has made an array of tweaks to CarPlay with the recent arrival of iOS 10.
Established automakers that Apple could partner with to get its in-the-works self-driving software inside cars include BMW, the purveyor of the i3 electric car. Apple is said to have previously mulled over a deal with BMW which it could now be in a good position to rekindle.