Editor's take: South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor Company has confirmed that it is in talks with Apple with regards to building an electric vehicle. At this point, it's anyone's guess as to whether or not something will materialize in the 2020s but given the recent success of Tesla, Apple could very well feel this is an opportunity too large to pass up.
"We understand that Apple is in discussion with a variety of global automakers, including Hyundai Motor," a Hyundai spokesperson recently told CNBC. The representative added that the discussions are in an early stage and thus, nothing has been decided yet.
Share value in Hyundai popped more than 30 percent on the news.
The automaker later released an updated statement that reads as follows: "We've been receiving requests of potential cooperation from diverse companies regarding development of autonomous driving EVs, but no decisions have been made as discussions are in early stage."
The path to putting an Apple-branded vehicle on the road has been long and winding, and was one of the hottest topics in tech circles in the mid-2010s.
From our vantage point, however, the project seemed riddled with uncertainty and a lack of direction. Was it going to be an actual car, or just self-driving software, or something else entirely? Did Apple want to partner with an established automaker or perhaps acquire one outright? All of these and more were possibilities at one point according to the rumor mill.
Chatter of an Apple car died down in the latter half of the decade, only picking back up late last year.
Image credit Roman Vyshnikov, Hadrian