Apple Car 2076 Concept Makes Little Sense, but Only at First

Apple Car, or Project Titan, as it’s also known, is believed to be heading into mass production in 2024, with an estimated delivery for 2025. It will be all-electric and, by all accounts, autonomous, with Apple not even taking a human operator into consideration when designing it.

As per the latest unconfirmed reports, Apple is in talks with Hyundai to build the Apple Car at the Kia facility in West Point, Georgia. It’s also in negotiations with other carmakers, because it wants to make sure it will have full control over the end product, in typical Apple fashion.

With so much talk about the Apple Car and how it would (hopefully, supposedly) come to steal the thunder from every other EV-maker (ahem, Tesla) out there and deliver a safe and reliable and perfectly road legal fully autonomous vehicle, buzz around certain independent concepts is also picking up. This is one of those concepts: the Apple Car 2076 by Turkish industrial designer Ali Cam.

First published in 2016, it is now getting a second chance in the spotlight thanks to the increased attention on the real Apple Car. And, while it’s clear that Cam’s design will probably have little in common with the real deal, it’s fun to escape everyday reality for a while with his work.

At first, the Apple Car 2076 may seem a downright stupid idea. It’s a car, but it’s shaped like a wedge (or a computer mouse, maybe?) and sits on the ground. It could also come across as ugly and, for a car that’s supposed to be made in 2076, on Apple’s centennial, not exactly very futuristic looking.

Looks can be deceiving, though.

This car sits low on the ground because it doesn’t have wheels. Cam imagines it for a future in which roads are magnetic, so the vehicle is using magnetic levitation technology to move around. In simpler terms, it has magnets mounted underneath, using repulsion for propulsion. Change the onboard magnets’ inclination, and you can enable acceleration, deceleration, and directional control.

As for the shape, that too is deceiving. This future-proof car aims for the minimalist, edgy style of many Apple products, but it’s minimalist only in appearance. The roof is made of smart glass, and the entire interior is one giant display. Access is possible by means of fingerprint or retinal scan, so the car will only let in the rightful owner.

With this concept, Cam reinvented almost everything about the modern vehicle. The door opens in two segments: a part in the top moves upward, much like a gullwing, while the lower part opens like a suicide door. There are screens everywhere, including on the inside of the doors.

Inside, the vehicle is like a luxury lounge, with benches to the front and rear, facing each other. Since the car is autonomous, all that space is being reused – and filled with screens. As a side note, so many screens would probably be a necessity considering that the vehicle is too low to allow any other position than sitting.

The Apple Car has a holographic display in the center and is gesture-enabled, while the smart glass roof would allow for a completely immersive digital experience. Other than that, it wouldn’t be particularly different than many AV concepts we’re getting today: a moving lounge that would further feed our reliance on tech under the guise of connectivity.

That said, regardless of the viral moment this concept is having, the real Apple Car's design remains anyone’s guess. We’re not saying it could be anything like the 2076 concept, but if anything, it’s one way of passing the time guessing.