Motor Trend reimagines the 'Apple Car,' sees autonomous rideshare in Apple's future

American auto magazine Motor Trend is back to rehash its initial predictions for Apple's yet unannounced "Apple Car", this time updating it for the "inevitable" autonomous future.

The new report is, once again, a think piece that collates a collection of rumors into Motor Trend's best guess at what Apple might have in the the works.

It doesn't take long for the publication to reference its first stab at imagining the "Apple Car," one which wound up being ridiculed for being too "podlike." Yet, as Motor Trend points out, podlike cars are being developed all over.

Amazon has the Zoox, and even Apple debated acquiring the startup behind the Canoo Lifestyle vehicle.

However, not satisfied with its original idea, Motor Trend has come up with what it dubs as the "Apple Car" 2.0.

The renders the publication provides show a newer, sleeker version of an all-electric vehicle, similar to the Zoox or the Canoo, or even Tesla's Cybertruck.

Image Credit: Motor Trend

This time, where most of the predictions lie this time isn't in the look of the car, but rather how the car functions.

Motor Trend sees a future where an autonomous "Apple Car" may be the most likely outcome. It's a safe bet, as it was learned in 2021 that Apple had been testing nearly 70 self-driving vehicles in California.

However, Motor Trend believes that Apple will likely pursue a rideshare-style program, rather than selling cars directly to consumers.

As it turns out, designing, manufacturing, and selling a vehicle from the ground up is an expensive endeavor. The publication reminds readers that vacuum manufacturer Dyson scrapped its electric vehicle after pumping more than $700 million into it. The company learned that they would have had to sell the car at $210,000, a price not many would be willing to pay.

So, instead of owning your own "Apple Car," you'd simply hail one the same way you might a Lyft or Uber. The only difference would be that the car would be entirely autonomous.

Of course, this future would be quite a ways off and likely restricted to major metropolitan areas where roads are grid-like and speeds are slow. The publication suggests that in the future, major metropolitan areas may ban private vehicles entirely, and autonomous ride-share vehicles could replace them.

The single-seat "ePod Solo" | Image Credit: Motor Trend

It also goes on to speculate that Apple will create two models of vehicles — which it calls the ePod and the ePod Solo — to meet the riders needs. The ePod would be a larger vehicle, designed to haul multiple passengers or passengers with lots of goods. The smaller ePod Solo would be be a single-seat option — though we're somewhat skeptical at the concept of fleets of single-seat vehicles cluttering the roads of major cities like New York City and Chicago.

The piece, while based mostly on rumors and best guesses, is an interesting read. It also includes 29 renders of what it thinks the "Apple Car" might look like and how users might interact with it.