Apple's Tesla Challenger Could Roll Into the Market By 2019 Full speed ahead. The Cupertino, Calif., colossus is revving up its electric car ambitions.

By Kim Lachance Shandrow

entrepreneur daily

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Vytautas Kielaitis | Shutterstock

Look out, Tesla. Apple is speeding into your rearview. The Cupertino, Calif., colossus is gearing up to release an electric car by 2019 and it's hiring 1,200 more employees to get the show on the road, reports the The Wall Street Journal.

Finally, after a year of weighing the possibility of its own branded wheels, Apple appears to have the green light to forge ahead. An earlier report had a new iCar (we're guessing at its name here) slated to arrive in 2020, but it's reportedly scheduled to debut even earlier. News hit yesterday that the company has just stamped the initiative a "committed project," sources close to the matter told the Journal.

Apple's ambitious shift from the consumer electronics market into the automotive fast lane comes on the heels of a meeting with officials at California's Department of Motor Vehicles. On Aug. 17, an Apple senior legal executive talked with a Golden State autonomous vehicle expert, along with the DMV's chief of strategic planning, according to documents acquired by The Guardian. The hour-long meeting fueled rumors that Apple is indeed serious about driving into the car market, just as Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak and countless others in and outside of Silicon Valley have long predicted.

Related: With Apple's 'CarPlay,' the Race for Flashier In-Car Touchscreen Controls Revs Up

As for Musk, he recently told Bloomberg Businessweek that Apple was tempting his Tesla employees to jump ship by offering 60 percent salary increases and $250,000 signing bonuses. "Apple tries very hard to recruit from Tesla," he said. "But so far they've actually recruited very few people." Whether poached from Tesla or not, Apple is reportedly tripling its existing 600-person team for the vehicle product program, which is said to be codenamed "Project Titan."

Those hoping Apple's first whip would be a self-driving machine will probably be disappointed. Sources familiar with the project say Apple is not looking to make its inaugural vehicle entirely autonomous, despite reportedly onboarding an unknown number of driverless car specialists. However, if individuals close to venture prove right, a self-driving option will likely be available over the long-term.

Related: Elon Musk Admits to 'Conversations' With Apple About Tesla

Meanwhile, Tesla, the undisputed electric car market frontrunner for the moment, is still working out the kinks on an autopilot semi-driverless software update for the Model S. Musk has publicly teased the feature for months. The upgrade will merely assist drivers, not entirely replace them. Google, for its part, is potentially driving in a different direction, per an executive at the search giant, who recently said her employer is considering selling its driverless tech directly to existing automakers.

As for how much an Apple car might cost, that remains one of the many unknowns surrounding Apple's pivot into the luxury electric car race. We imagine the term "sticker shock" won't even begin to cover it.

Related: Apple Says It's Cleaning Up the App Store After Its First Large-Scale Malware Attack

Kim Lachance Shandrow

Former West Coast Editor

Kim Lachance Shandrow is the former West Coast editor at Entrepreneur.com. Previously, she was a commerce columnist at Los Angeles CityBeat, a news producer at MSNBC and KNBC in Los Angeles and a frequent contributor to the Los Angeles Times. She has also written for Government Technology magazine, LA Yoga magazine, the Lowell Sun newspaper, HealthCentral.com, PsychCentral.com and the former U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. C. Everett Coop. Follow her on Twitter at @Lashandrow. You can also follow her on Facebook here

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Editor's Pick

Thought Leaders

How Gangster Al Capone Inspired the Launch of a Family-Run Company That Has Thrived for 95 Years

Marty Ozinga, the fourth-generation CEO of Ozinga, explains the legacy and future of the powerhouse construction materials company.

Marketing

4 Ways AI Is Revolutionizing Targeted Advertising — And How to Balance It's Ethical Implications

AI-powered targeted advertising revolutionizes marketing with hyper-personalized promotions. However, ethical and transparency questions hover over this progress.

Business Ideas

63 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2024

We put together a list of the best, most profitable small business ideas for entrepreneurs to pursue in 2024.

Making a Change

Learn ASL with This Bundle, Just $40 Through March 24

Learning American Sign Language can open up your mind and business potential, and this bundle makes it easy with 55 hours of content on the alphabet, essential phrases, and more.

Business Solutions

Host Your Website with iBrave — $90 for Life Through March 24

iBrave is an advanced cloud web hosting platform.