Apple is Ditching Full Self Driving on its Long-Promised Car

But it may arrive with a lower price.

Apple is nothing if not revolutionary when it comes to its tech-forward products for consumers, so when rumors began to swirl that the company was getting into the car business, well… it wasn’t so hard to believe.

Since 2014, Apple has reportedly been working towards an electric vehicle – an endeavor famed investor Carl Icahn said would serve as “the ultimate mobile device.” Part of Icahn’s bullishness on the Apple car stemmed from the rumors that it would be fully autonomous, providing - Incahn’s words - “a robust vertical to the Apple ecosystem.” More plainly: drivers who aren’t driving would have more time for Apple watches, iPhones, Apple+... you get the picture.

Since the project first started gaining attention more than eight years ago, there've been some ups and downs – partnerships being developed and dissolved, rumors of prohibitively high costs, even points where reports occasionally suggested the Apple car was dead.

But according to a recent Bloomberg report, the Apple car is delayed but very much on – though it’s been scaled back a bit. The recent article suggests that Apple’s EV is due to hit the market in 2026 but without one key feature: it won’t be Level 5 self-driving. Not exactly surprising considering nobody that’s already in the car business has achieved this feat to date, and most aren’t even close.

The second update is a little less disappointing to Apple car enthusiasts: the much more conventional design will come at a lower price tag, with a purported cost under $100,000. This will put the Apple EV potentially within a range to compete against other higher-end electrics, including those from Tesla, Mercedes Benz and Audi.

With all that said, Bloomberg reports that Apple is still in the pre-prototype stage, so brace yourself for more disappointment: 2026 will be here before you know it and Apple, if they’re to hit this target, will have a lot of work to do.

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