American tech company Apple will launch its first electric car in 2028. Earlier, the company was going to launch an EV without steering wheel in the market in 2026 with fully automotive drive option.
According to Bloomberg report, the company has changed its launching strategy. Apple will now launch its first EV with semi-automatic drive option. Apple is now developing the car with a Level 2 system of automotive drive like Tesla and other electric vehicles.
Apple Vice President Kevin Lynch is leading the project since 2021. Under the guidance of Lynch, the company has changed its old strategy. In this, drivers have to be ready to control the car if needed while driving, despite the autopilot system. Earlier there was a plan to develop it with level 4+ automation.
The Level 2 driving system is a Partial Self Driving (FSD) system. In this Advanced Driving Assistance System (ADAS) the car handles the primary driving functions. Whereas in Level 4 Autonomous Driving Technology, the car runs completely in auto drive mode. In this the role of driver is optional.
That means everything from steering to gear, clutch, braking system is automatic. However, in both driving levels the driver can control the car manually if needed. Automatic drive mode goes up to level 6. In this, level 6 is completely automatic.
Earlier, the company has rescheduled the launch date of its EV to 2019, 2020 and 2026. The reason behind the company shifting from Level 4+ autonomy to Level 2+ has been keeping in mind the challenges related to automatic driving and things related to global regulatory. However, experts believe that the company can think of more automated vehicles in the future.
Before this, in this project named 'Titan', under research since 2015, the team has not yet prepared any visual prototype. According to the report, the company's board is also putting pressure on CEO Tim Cook to prepare a concrete plan on the project soon or to close the project.
