Summary created by Smart Answers AI
In summary:
- Ferrari unveiled the Luce, its first electric vehicle, with interior design from LoveFrom, a company led by former Apple design chief Jony Ive.
- Macworld suggests that the Luce’s design elements offer a glimpse of what the canceled Apple Car project might have looked like, showcasing Ive’s signature aesthetic.
- A full reveal, including exterior design and pricing, is expected in May, although current images of the interior already show Ive’s distinctive graphics and typographic style.
If you’ve ever wondered what could have happened to the Apple Car, now you’ll be able to satisfy your curiosity a little. Ferrari on Monday announced the Luce, the company’s first electric car. And the lead designer behind the car’s cabin and controls is LoveFrom, former Apple chief designer Jony Ive’s company.
Ferrari has released some images of what the interior looks like, and you can’t help but think it’s a look at what the Apple Car might have looked like.
Ferrari
Ferrari
Ferrari
The look and feel of the graphics and fonts is typical Ive, although some of the control panels seem more cluttered than you’d expect. Ferrari’s announcement of the Luca document states that Ive was involved in “key components of the interface,” but it is unclear how involved he was.
Did he just design the software user interface? Or did it have hardware input like the steering assembly or the (very cool) key dock and (also very cool) control panel? One glaring omission from the announcement is that there are no exterior shots of the car’s body. Ferrari is saving it for the full launch in May. We also don’t know how much it will cost, but we expect it to be well out of our price range.
Ferrari has a marketing video for the Luce where you don’t actually see anything of substance on the car, but you hear a lot of marketing talk. At 5:02 you can see Jony Ive himself looking at… something.
It was only recently that there was public acknowledgment (but not directly from Apple) that the Apple Car was a real project. It was expected to be a luxury vehicle (think BMW, not Ferrari) and possibly self-driving. But after years of working in secret, the project was killed two years ago. It looks like many of the ideas I had for the Apple Car were brought to life thanks to Ferrari.