In light of the news that Chief Design Officer, Jony Ive will leave Apple later this year to open his own independent design practice, current and former Apple employees are discussing Ive’s departure, revealing plans for an Apple television and Apple Car, said to have no physical steering wheel.
According to The Information, in 2012 Ive attended one of Apple’s regular Human Interface team meetings and abruptly announced that Scott Forstall, who at the time was responsible for Apple’s software development team, was no longer with the company.
Ive is then said to have lead the Human Interface team to see Apple’s industrial design studio, with Ive showing an early prototype of the Apple Watch, three years before it was released, as well as an Apple television described as “Super-minimal. Just a piece of glass with nice details.” – The Apple Post shared alleged images of Apple’s rumored TV in 2017.
During the tour, the team is also said to have seen a wooden prototype of Project Titan, the long-rumored self-driving Apple car.
According to the sources, the Apple car prototype was being constructed out of wood and leather to be presented to Apple CEO Tim Cook. The most visibly notable feature of the model was that Ive insisted it should not have a steering wheel, with the vehicle relying heavily on voice-control.
Apple is yet to reveal an Apple television despite numerous rumors the company has planned to do so, and recent reports suggested Apple has slowed its once aggressive Project Titan dreams.
Backing reports shared by Bloomberg, The Information reports Ive has been working at a private studio in San Francisco for some time. – “It felt special to get invited to his private studio,” said a source who has not been there but whose colleagues had. At one point, so many Apple employees were visiting the studio in San Francisco’s Pacific Heights region that neighbors reportedly complained.