Apple car may be an electric van

FRANKFURT: A long-speculated vehicle to be developed by Apple may turn out to be an electric van rather than a car, a German magazine reported on Thursday.

Manager Magazin, citing multiple unnamed sources, said that prototypes painted in black and silver had been seen.

The report, which did not provide further details, said that engineers at Apple’s Cupertino, California-headquarters were now working on the interior.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The iPhone maker registered the domain names, which include apple.car, apple.cars and apple.auto in December 2015, according to domain information provider Who.is.

MacRumors had first reported the news on Friday, but said the domain names could be related to Apple’s CarPlay, which lets drivers access contacts on their iPhones, make calls or listen to voicemails without taking their hands off the steering wheel.

While never openly acknowledging plans to build a car, Apple has been aggressive in recruiting auto experts from companies such as Ford or Mercedes-Benz.

Car technology has become a prime area of interest for Silicon Valley companies including Google Inc, which has built a prototype self-driving car.