Apple has purchased a bunch of web addresses related to cars, including apple.car and apple.auto, according to registration records spotted by Macrumors.
The web domains were registered in Whois records updated on January 8 through sponsoring registrar Mark Monitor with Apple Inc's Cupertino, California contact information listed as the administrator name. The web addresses are the latest nugget of information hinting at Apple's increasing interest in the automotive industry.
Apple has been rumored to be working on an electric, and possibly a self-driving, car and has hired several experts from the car industry over the past year. The secretive car effort is reportedly called Project Titan. In August, Apple representatives met with officials from the California DMV to discuss autonomous car regulations.
Several big tech companies are expanding into the auto industry, including Google, which has been developing self-driving cars for years, and ride-hailing service Uber.
The fact that Apple has registered the domain names does not necessarily mean that Apple is planning to build a car. The company is also developing technology to integrate its iPhone software and services into cars through its CarPlay product. It's also common for companies to purchase domain names with their trademarks to prevent others from using them.
The three names registered to Apple include apple.auto, apple.car, and apple.cars.
We've reached out to Apple and will update if we hear back.
