Apple teams up with Volkswagen to create self-driving vans after decline from Mercedes and BMW

Technology giant Apple has struck a deal with the German car manufacturer Volkswagen to develop self-driving vans for its employees, according to the New York Times.

Apple will be applying its own self-driving technology to Volkswagen’s T6 Transporter van and create a fleet of vehicles intended for transporting employees.

The ambitious project was started by Apple already back in 2015 and the company has since tried to obtain manufacturing deals with both Mercedes-Benz and BMW but no arrangement was ever made.

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Apple has struggled with the project, nicknamed Project Titan, for many years as it initially planned on developing the cars itself, but despite having hundreds of people working on the project Apple eventually reached out to car manufacturers.

Tim Cook, the chief executive of Apple, first spoke publicly about the self-driving vehicle project in mid-2017 when he said that the company was working on “autonomous systems”.

The company is known for being secretive about its projects and, although its been in the works for three years, little has been known about the project up until now.

The two companies have not been available to comment on the project and have not released details as to the number of vans that will be developed or the production time-frame.

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