'Father of the iPod' Tony Fadell beats Apple in race to launch an electric vehicle with $600 app-controlled smart kart for kids

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He was a key Apple employee, known as the 'father of the iPod' - and now Tony Fadell, who also invested the Nest smart thermostat, has beaten his old employer to launch an electric vehicle.

The $600  Arrow 'smart-kart' includes includes GPS and WiFi to keep drivers safe, and is aimed at 5-9 year olds.

Parents using a mobile app can geofence the kart's driving area, limit the top speed or even hit a stop button in an emergency.

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The $600 Arrow 'smart-kart' includes includes GPS and WiFi to keep drivers safe, and is aimed at 5-9 year olds.

There's also a proximity sensor to automatically prevent accidents.

Fadell co-founded Actev Motors, a Silicon Valley startup with the CEO Dave Bell.

'We want to teach the next generation about electric vehicles,' Fadell told Fortune.

The kart also comes with a huge range of customisable options, including different body styles, a higher-capacity battery and even a drift kit.

Fadell says he was inspired by soap box racers for the project, and admits his motivation was his own kids.

'It had to materialize before they got older because I really wanted to do this for them,' said Fadell, who has three children under the age of 10.

He also hinted to Fortune the firm is building a full sized version, saying his friends who saw the kart had all asked for one.  

'They ask for an adult size,' he said. 'So you can imagine what we are thinking.'

Dave Bell, the CEO of Actev, said: 'As a long time-car enthusiast, I wanted to leverage my 35 years of technology experience to bring a whole new category of fun and safe vehicles to families.'

'Simple battery-powered ride-on cars don't excite today's kids – they seek high-tech interactive experiences. 

'The Arrow Smart-Kart gets kids off the couch and outside, and behind the wheel of a real driving machine.'

Kids can also personalise their driving experience by downloading synthesized engine sounds from an online sound library. 

The Arrow app also lets kids monitor stats such as total driving time, total distance and maximum speed.

Last year Fadell revealed Steve Jobs began talking about an Apple car in 2008, it has been revealed.

Kids can also personalise their driving experience by downloading synthesized engine sounds from an online sound library.

Ex-Apple employee Tony Fadell, known as the 'father of the iPod', told Bloomberg he discussed the plans for a car in 2008 with Jobs.

Fadell, the inventor of Nest and now a Google employee tasked with reinventing Google Glass, claimed that phones and cars are in fact similar. 

Ex-Apple employee Tony Fadell (pictured), known as the 'father of the iPod', the inventor of Nest and now a Google employee tasked with reinventing Google Glass, told Bloomberg he discussed the plans for a car in 2008 with Jobs. 

When asked if he ever talked to Steve Jobs about building a car,he told Bloomberg TV's Emily Chang.

'Yes, we did. We had a couple walks. And this was in 2008'  

The pair posed hypothetical questions to each other, such as: 'If we were to build a car, what would we build? What would a dashboard be? And what would this be? What would seats be? How would you fuel it or power it?' Jobs decided not to move forward at the time. 

The discussions took place when the American auto industry was on the verge of collapse, and Apple was busy trying to establish the iPhone as a mainstream product. 

Fadfell says he was inspired by soap box racers for the project, and admits his motivation was his own kids.

'The Detroit auto industry was almost dead,' Fadell said in the interview. 

Fadell pointed out, phones and cars aren't that different: 'A car has batteries; it has a computer; it has a motor; and it has mechanical structure. 

'If you look at an iPhone, it has all the same things. It even has a motor in it. 

Fadell (right) said his relationship with Steve Jobs (left) was 'dramatic'.

'But the hard stuff is really on the connectivity and how cars could be self-driving.'

In an interview last year, Apple board member Mickey Drexler said that before his death in 2011, Steve Jobs had considered building a car.

He told Paul Goldberger: 'Steve Jobs was gonna design an iCar. 

'I think cars have an extraordinary opportunity for cool design.' 

Fadell said his relationship with Steve Jobs was 'dramatic'. 

'There were times when it was friendly. 

'I wouldn't say we were friends, per se, you know, in terms of, like, hanging out. 

'But it was very friendly and but it was tough at times. I'd call him on the crap sometimes. He didn't like that.' 

Based on the technology currently being used in a range of electric and driverless cars Re/Code has designed a graphic showing all the companies currently involved in this space. The chips used to power electronics are shown being made by Qualcomm and Samsung, while firms listed under cameras include Mobileye and Valeo

'If there isn't tension then there's not creation. You need to have creative tension to really change things. It was a dramatic relationship.'

The full episode airs tonight on Bloomberg TV at 6PM PT/9 PM.

Apple is rumoured to be developing a self-driving car, joining the likes of Google and Tesla, and there are a range of firms already paving the way for such autonomous vehicles.

Based on this technology and these manufacturers, Re/Code designed a graphic showing all the companies currently involved in this space.

The chips used to power electronics are shown being made by Qualcomm and Samsung, while firms listed under the camera section include Mobileye and Valeo.

The graphic was designed by Re/Code using a stock image. It is not a rendering of an actual vehicle.

Rumours about an Apple car surfaced earlier this year after a prototype car was spotted fitted with cameras and sensors. After the first mysterious camera-mounted car was spotted in California, further sightings of Apple's minivans were posted online, with equipment on top (shown here)

In an article accompanying the piece, journalist Mark Bergen said: 'If Apple gets into the race, it's unlikely to build cars alone. Who will it turn to?

'Tesla has touted its recent advancements in autonomous driving, as have Daimler, Audi and BMW.

'The less-familiar companies are the ones behind the scenes - the manufacturers, suppliers and startups building the hardware and software that equip vehicles with autonomous features, or that build self-driving cars from scratch.'

He continued that several companies already provide parts to the likes of Google and Tesla, including Bosch and Continental, while others have been involved in smart dashboards, such as Qualcomm. 

Other companies mentioned on the graphic include Velodyne, a market-leading Lidar firm. 

Since then a number of designers have released concept drawings of what they think the vehicle will look like. This vision shows a semi-autonomous electric car in the minimalist tradition of Apple design, it features external LED screens at the front and back with a discreet hatch and doors that open laterally

Another designer embellished his curved iCar concept with Apple logos on the front and on all the car seats

Its advanced sensors are already used by trucking companies while it also offers an $8,000 smaller 'Puck' device.

Elsewhere Silicon Valley-based Atieva is currently designing and creating its own electric car and is in the process of hiring more than 100 engineers and designers. 

In May, chip maker Qualcomm announced a 'strategic partnership' with Daimler.

This includes the development of Qualcomm's Halo Wireless Electric Vehicle Charging (WEVC) that doesn't need to be plugged in and can be recharged using kinectic power points.

If successful, Apple could take advantage of these charging breakthroughs. 

Meanwhile, one of the retrofitters mentioned in the graphic is a start-up called Zoox.

An unnamed Apple employee recently hinted that the tech giant is developing a vehicle as part of a project that 'will change the landscape and give Tesla a run for its money.' It followed sightings of an Apple-owned car fitted with cameras (pictured) in California

In particular, Apple may be working on an electric car to rival Tesla's range (the Tesla P85D is pictured) or the rumours could be referring to an advanced iPhone in-car control system that would rival Tesla's software

Zoox was co-founded by computer scientist Jesse Levinson and is looking to build an autonomous vehicle from scratch.

Rumours about an Apple car surfaced earlier this year after a prototype car was spotted fitted with cameras and sensors. 

An industry expert claimed Apple could have an electric car ready to go on sale by 2020 and since then, a number of designers have released concept drawings of what they think the vehicle will look like.

According to Tim Higgins from Bloomberg, automakers 'typically spend five to seven years developing a car'.

And a 2020 timeframe would underscore Apple's 'aggressive goals and could set the stage for a battle for customers with Tesla Motors and General Motors.'

Both of those are planning to release a sub-£26,000 ($40,000) electric car in 2017 that can travel more than 200 miles (320km) on a single charge. 

But Tesla boss Elon Musk doesn't feel threatened by the news. 

He recently said during an interview with German newspaper Handelsblatt that Apple is 'Tesla graveyard' full of his ex employees who didn't make it at his firm. 

He added that cars are much more complex than the phones and watches Apple is famous for, and he isn't worried about the competition. 

Alternatively, the vehicles spotted in California and Florida could be self-driving cars. The cameras on the mysterious vans could be used to scan the road and help engineers develop autonomous software, for example. If Apple was developing such systems, they would would rival Google's self-driving cars (pictured)

The Florida recording (pictured) was filmed in Coral Springs. This footage shows a white Dodge Caravan fitted with cameras on the roof. As the filmmaker pulls alongside the van, they wave at the two men inside and the passenger is seen concealing an iPad from view