Apple’s Tesla Model X Rival Won’t Have Steering Wheel?

Apple’s chief design officer is reportedly leaving the Cupertino tech giant sometime later this year. Since reports of his departure have been released, some of his ideas have been made public as well -- and one of them is that of a car without a steering wheel.

Apple’s Jony Ive is set to leave Apple sometime this year so he can start his own design firm, LoveFrom. The designer, which has worked for Apple for almost three years, has been heavily responsible for the design of some of Apple’s best products, including the Mac, the iPod, and the iPhone. One of his creative ideas that were just made public now, MacRumors reported, is for an Apple Car.

Apple Car

According to a report from The Information (paywall), one of the secret projects Ive worked on got him to design an Apple Car. This car, which would likely be a rival to Tesla’s Model X, would’ve been the Cupertino tech giant’s first vehicle.

The report said Ive already came up with some early prototypes for the unnamed Apple Car. One of these protoypes featured a luxurious interior that made use of wood and leather. This certain concept didn’t have a steering wheel.

Ive wanted this certain car to be controlled by Siri. In order to give Apple CEO Tim Cook an idea of how the car will work, Ive had an actress play the role of Siri who responded to the voice commands coming from Apple’s executives. It’s unclear how this plan worked. What’s even more unclear is if Apple took the concept seriously.

Other projects

Aside from the aforementioned car sans the steering wheel, Ive also worked on other projects which included the rumored but never released Apple TV, as well as early versions of the well-loved Apple wearable, Apple Watch.

In an internal memo sent to Apple employees (obtained by Buzzfeed), Tim Cook said Ive will be leaving the company as an employee to start his own independent design firm, but will still be working closely with Apple as one of his firm’s primary clients. Simply put, Ive will still be involved in designing future Apple products.