Apple Car? More Like Apple Van, German Report Says

The electric vehicle Apple is said to be working on may be pretty roomy.

A new report from German site Manager Magazin, first spotted by Reuters, claims the much rumored about "Apple Car" could actually be a van. Citing several unnamed sources familiar with the project, Manager Magazin on Monday reported that Apple's engineers have designed prototypes of the van with black and silver paint. The prototypes reportedly mimic "the typical industrial design of the iPhone."

Apple is also working on its own batteries and electric motors along with "special seats and interior components," the report notes. Manager Magazin says the van will be capable of driving autonomously.

This past August, reliable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of TF International Securities predicted that the vehicle will make its debut between 2023 and 2025 and become the trillion-dollar company's next big breakout product. That prediction came shortly after Apple rehired Tesla's former Senior VP of Engineering Doug Field to work on Project Titan, the codename for its electric vehicle.

In late 2016, it appeared Apple's automotive ambitions hit the skids when word spread that the company had "drastically scaled back" its car team, shifting its focus to creating software rather than an actual vehicle.

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Apple itself hasn't made any promises about whether it will release a self-driving vehicle in the future, but CEO Tim Cook in 2017 acknowledged that the company is working on the brains of one, which he referred to as "the mother of all AI projects."

"I think there is a major disruption looming there," Cook said at the time. "Not only for self-driving cars, but also the electrification piece."