Apple killed its'Apple Car' last month after years of broken promises and while the world has never seen an actual photo, but new details reveal what it could've been. The features were shared by a reliable industry expert who suggested the vehicle would've been a futuristic-looking microbus with a'private jet' interior. Mark Gurman, an Apple tipster, mentioned the van-like car would boast an all-white exterior, self-driving capabilities and a giant screen inside for FaceTime calls, watching videos and scrolling through apps - much like the iPhone. Experts had predicted the world could see the Apple Car by 2028, but then scrapped after an internal memo was circulated to around 2,000 company employees in February. Apple had never officially confirmed when consumers could expect the vehicle to be released, but it announced that it was abandoning the highly anticipated project after a decade in the works.

After a decade of rumors and speculation, the Apple Car is dead. Last week, Bloomberg reported that the multibillion-dollar project had finally been scrapped. Reports about the electric vehicle never quite seemed real, but now we have many new details about the car that never was thanks to an excellent post-mortem from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. The story includes many astonishing details about various Apple executives' plans for the car, and why the project ultimately failed. But some of the best details are the descriptions of what the vehicle was supposed to look like. At one point, Apple's leaders were adamant that the autonomous "microbus" should not include a steering wheel or pedals.

Despite spending billions of dollars on the project in the past 10 years, Apple has scrapped efforts to build its own self-driving electric car. Social media users have been mercilessly mocking the tech giant, which is reportedly set to fire employees who worked on the ambitious scheme. Taking to X, one joked that Apple cancelled the car'after realizing it would require windows', in a nod to the software from rival tech firm Microsoft. Another user said that the'charging solution proved a bit inconvenient' with a shot of an upside-down car with a charger plugged into it. Yet another posted an image of the'original Apple car' – driven by Lowly Worm the fictional earthworm from the classic 1960s children's books.

Apple has reportedly scaled back its automotive aspirations, at least for now. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says the company's decade-old vehicle project has pivoted from planning a fully self-driving car to an EV more like Tesla's. The so-called "Apple Car" is now projected to launch no earlier than 2028 -- two years after the company's last reported target date. The car's autonomous features have reportedly been downgraded from a Level 5 system (full automation) to a Level 4 system (full automation in some circumstances) -- and now to a Level 2 one (partial automation). That would mean it offers limited self-driving features like lane centering and braking / accelerating support -- while still requiring the driver's full attention. Tesla's Autopilot is categorized as Level 2. Level 2 isn't an official designation, but it's sometimes used informally to describe a more advanced version of Level 2. What Apple once envisioned as a car without a steering wheel or pedals -- and perhaps having a remote command center ready to take over for a driver -- now looks more like a Tesla-like market entrance.

The results may look fascinating, but what's cooler is that this comes from OpenAI's DALL-E 2, founded by Elon Musk. So in a way, credit for this Apple Car goes to Tesla's Elon Musk?! Mmm?? Designed by Dall-E 2 based on a text prompt from designer, educator, and YouTuber John Mauriello, this Apple Car is fascinating for two prime reasons – the car's design itself, but more importantly, the underlying AI technology that ended up creating the car. The genesis for this idea came from Marques Brownlee's own efforts with DALL-E 2. In a YouTube video, Brownlee demonstrated how simply typing the words "Apple Car" resulted in a car that looked like the apple fruit. This became a starting point for Mauriello, who instead, decided to tweak the prompt a little to get more specialized results. Mauriello told the AI to design a "Minimalist Sportscar inspired by a MacBook and a Magic Mouse, built out of aluminum and glass", while also specifying it to design something in the style of Apple's former design head, Jony Ive.

Apple has arguably changed our lives more than any other company in the world during the past two decades or so. But aside from its digital devices such as iPhones, laptops, watches and operating systems, is there another direction it could go? The somewhat tentative answer to that has been transport, in the form of electric self-driving vehicles. Is Apple gearing up to challenge electric vehicle market leader Tesla, and what progress has been made so far? An Apple-branded car has been mooted for some years now, with sporadic reports of progress being made.

Apple's long-awaited Apple Car could have virtual displays on the inside instead of clear windows, according to a new patent. The tech giant has filed a patent for a virtual reality (VR) vehicle system that matches up'virtual views' with the physical motion of a car as it's travelling. For example, if the car was careering down a hill, the system could project a virtual image of a rollercoaster ride. Chairs in the car would move about to match the visuals, the patent suggests, much like an immersive '4DX' cinema experience. But it would mean passing views of the real world – such as a beautiful medieval cathedral or stunning coastal hills – would be entirely replaced with virtual graphics.

Rumours of the possible existence of an Apple car have been making rounds for ages. Over the years, various executives have come and gone, and several carmakers have been tied to the project. And now, there's further proof that Apple is developing systems for a car thanks to new filings from the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). In order to develop its vision for a car of the future, Apple has been testing its automotive driving tech on the streets of California. As part of the testing of these systems, the firm is required to log all miles covered by self-driving cars with the State of California. The firm does this alongside companies like Waymo and Cruise, which are also developing self-driving cars.

I am in agreement with other critics of self-driving cars. As long as humans remain in control of cars,machine learning, artificial intelligence, sensors, etc. will be no match for the eccentricities, poor judgement, inattention, and road rage of homo sapien drivers. On a more positive note, I read an article about an Israeli company who has contracted to build a one mile stretch of highway in Michigan with charging coils embedded in the pavement to allow wireless charging of EVs while they drive over the road. Of course the EVs will also be equipped with coils as well. If this turns out to be a practical solution to the range issue of EVs it will change everything.

An engineer has created concept images of what the upcoming Apple Car could look like when it is finally released. Artistic renderings have been created by Devanga Borah, a mechanical engineer at Tezpur University in India, of an autonomous and fully electric vehicle. Like something out of a dystopian sci-fi film, the renderings depict a bizarre white car consisting of a spherical pod that swivels around 360-degrees on four wheels. The pod has a circular entrance that flings open like a couple of saloon doors to reveal'a cocoon-like cockpit' with two seats. Reminiscent of Apple's eMac computer from 2002, the vehicle is painted in glossy white and features the Apple logo between the front and back sets of wheels.