The iPhone and iPod get enhanced every year but Apple has a new invention in the works. It was reported on February 3 that a patent was granted to Apple Electric Car, Inc., a company that has yet to be publicly advertised.
The curiosity was high when it was announced but it turns out the patent was not for an electric car. It was for a computer attached to a golf cart that also goes by the name iProCar, Fox News reports.
Supposedly this Florida company has been marketing these models and ideas for years. It includes access to entertainment when out golfing and different interactive tools to enhance the game.
Tony Bonito, the company’s owner, and Perry Pierce, an individual on the patent, worked with a contractor hired in 2008 to work on the model. The patent features a 19-inch monitor connected to a pair of large swing arms and the computer is located under the seat.
Along with this new electronic, sporting equipment Apple was investigated for about a year after they held meetings with two groups of government officials in California and got permission to triple their 600-person team. They have now hired experts in driverless cars and the people familiar with the plans say that these vehicles will not be fully autonomous.
The long term goal is for Apple to use their expertise in batteries, sensors and hardware-software integration that is incorporated into iPhones and apply them to future vehicles.
Apple has planned a ship date of 2019 for the car, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the customers will receive the product that year. It could simply define the year that engineers sign off on the product’s main features.
Apple had hundreds of people investigating an electric vehicle designed like a minivan. However, the hiring has skyrocketed since then. Apple has a team across the company who are strictly working on this car business, just as they had a national team work on the Apple Watch.