The long-awaited Apple Car may never appear, but at least we now have a better notion of what it would have looked like.
Mark Gurman of Bloomberg stated in his Power On newsletter that the Apple Car might have resembled the Canoo Lifestyle minivan pictured above.
It’s undoubtedly an intriguing appearance, but we don’t have a true picture of how it would have appeared because of Apple’s indecision and hubris, as Gurman revealed last week.
Gurman points to an all-glass sunroof, a white exterior, and whitewall tires with a black core to describe how the Apple car’s circa-2020 appearance resembled the Canoo Lifestyle Vehicle, a futuristic van with rounded edges.
Though it had a simple interface, the vehicle was optimized for Level 5 self-driving, which is the maximum level of automation. The car would fit four people comfortably, according to one insider who informed Gurman that it felt like you were in a “contoured bubble”.
How Apple Made a “Bread Loaf”:
Although Jony Ive left the Apple design team a while prior, Gurman reveals that there was once a version of the automobile that “looked nearly identical to the 2017 Volkswagen ID Buzz prototype” and was dubbed the “Bread Loaf.” The car was also modeled after a 1950s Volkswagen Microbus.
The reason the second one is interesting is because while some employees of Apple joined Volkswagen in the middle of the 2010s, further efforts resulted in a speech by Tim Cook and COO Jeff Williams committing to continue development in 2020 at the company’s Arizona test track.
When Apple decided to scrap the project, its final major design had been reduced from Level 5 automation to Level 2, with the steering wheel and pedals added back.
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Freelance journalist Lloyd Coombes specializes on Apple technology. He’s worked with Apple products for more than ten years, having started with a hand-me-down iMac. Although he loves his Mac and iPhone, the iPad will always have a special place in his heart for reasons he still doesn’t fully understand.
Since moving from blogging to a career in writing, Lloyd has been published in numerous publications, including TechRadar, Macworld, TechAdvisor, and many more.
In his rare moments away from writing, he can be seen interacting with his son or working out hard at the gym (of course, all while sporting an Apple Watch). He is also the Editor in Chief at GGRecon.com. He is on Twitter at @lloydcoombes.