About

The Apple Car refers to a virtual reality, self-driving and electric motor vehicle project headed by the technology company Apple. Although rumors surfaced on Twitter in mid-2022, Apple car memes have been prevalent since 2014 when the company hinted at its car industry plans in the late 2010s (called "Project Titan"), designed to compete with other companies like Tesla, Google and Microsoft going into the 2020s.

History

On March 19th, 2014, news outlets like Forbes^[1] reported on statements made by Apple at the 2014 Geneva Motor Show, wherein, spokespeople declared that the company planned to play a key role in the future of cars by bringing their technology to them. This proposed integration into vehicle technology manifested into Apple CarPlay: an Apple-branded smartphone integration and replication present in car dashboards. By 2022, Apple CarPlay is used in over 600 car models, spanning many car companies.^[2]

On February 13th, 2015, The Wall Street Journal^[3] reported that Apple was gearing up to employ roughly 1,000 workers to start working on "Project Titan," a "minivan-like vehicle" to be their first foray into the automotive industry. It was reported that the project began nearly a year prior, but in 2015, they'd just been given the okay to assemble the 1,000-person team and subsequently announce its development.

In September 2016, it was reported by the Financial Times^[4] that Apple was interested in acquiring the supercar company, McLaren. In October 2016, CNBC^[5] reported that "Project Titan" had a 2017 release date. On July 10th, 2018, Wired^[6] released a report that an ex-Apple employee, Xiaolang Zhang, had reportedly stolen more than 40 GB of Apple intellectual property regarding its "Project Titan" when he left the company to work for China’s Xpeng Motors. In late 2020, the release date of the Apple car was pushed back to 2024 as reported by Reuters.^[7]

On May 17th, 2022, news outlet VR Scout^[8] published an article titled, "The Apple Car Could Feature VR Technology And No Windows," citing reports about Apple purchasing in-car VR entertainment system patents through the U.S. patent office. The news outlet also posted a tweet^[9] on May 17th that included a visual of an imagined, window-less prototype, earning roughly 7,200 likes and 14,400 quote retweets in less than a day (shown below).

Apple Car Memes

Memes using the "Apple car" as a reference predate any announcements made by the company in 2015.^[3] For instance, on November 14th, 2012, Twitter^[10] user AlfredoFlores tweeted, "If Apple made a car, would it have Windows?" earning roughly 2,000 likes and 5,500 retweets in ten years.

Following the February 2015 announcement,^[3] memes and tweets about Apple cars started to surface online. For instance, on February 16th, 2015, Ellen Degeneres posted a tweet^[11] that ended with the punchline, "--Sent from my Apple Car--" earning roughly 5,500 likes in seven years (shown below, left). On October 14th, 2015, Twitter^[12] user JonyIveParody captioned a photo of a futuristic car upside and charging like an iPhone, earning roughly 2,900 likes in seven years (shown below, right).

Apple car memes surfaced online going into the 2020s across platforms. For instance, on February 8th, 2020, Redditor lajarus posted a Captain America Elevator Fight meme to /r/memes, ^[13] earning roughly 35,900 upvotes in two years (shown below, left). After VR Scout's 2022 tweet,^[9] many memes surfaced on Twitter about the proposed prototype. For instance, on May 18th, 2022, Twitter^[14] user willmenaker posted a quote retweet about the "pinwheel of death" appearing when driving off a cliff, earning roughly 16,900 likes in less than a day (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Apple car concept🤯 pic.twitter.com/Tilwr80R6W

— Q (@quinnjmiller) December 25, 2020

Search Interest

External References