A massive vehicle testing site has recently been purchased in Arizona, and there's a serious possibility the acquisition could be connected with none other than Apple—particularly in relation to the development of the Apple Car.
The testing site is 5,458 acres large, located just outside of Phoenix, Arizona. For years, it has been rented by a mysterious company by the name of Route 14 Investment Partners LLC. Route 14 has so far kept its identity well hidden by having all of its external affairs managed by the Greenberg Traurig law office.
While the purchase took place just a couple of months ago (namely on June 25 of this year), Route 14 was incorporated in 2015, not long after Apple was discovered to be working on developing car technology. Since then, the company has been renting and using the space for years, although nobody knew exactly what went on within the vehicle testing grounds.
The deed to the purchase was discovered by MacRumors, showing that the aforementioned company bought the whole lot for $125 million, which were paid in cash.
While Route 14's purchase has no direct connection with Apple on the sale deed—or anywhere on paper for that matter—the rumors have some relatively small but real basis on facts. For one, Apple owns a mail post box within the Corporation Trust Company (CTC), under which Route 14 also happened to be registered.
While this is the only concrete linking factor between Apple and Route 14, Apple's recent surge in action around its car project naturally brings all such rumors into the spotlight. If Apple is well on its way with its highly secretive car tech development, it would need a space of such capacity (and obscurity) to test its vehicles efficiently and in privacy.
Only this Friday, Apple officially hired two engineers from Mercedes to work with its "Special Projects Group," which can only mean Apple's plans to break into the automobile industry are undeniably moving forward.
Despite potential issues due to global auto chip supply shortages (as well deficits of other components), Apple is allegedly setting is sights on 2024 as the year to launch the first original Apple Car.
Follow us on social media to catch the latest trending stories, watch exclusive videos, and join the conversation with our vibrant community!
Thank you for sharing your feedback with us!
Recommended Stories
Loading Comments...
COMMENT
All comments need to comply with our
Community Guidelines
Phonearena comments rules
A discussion is a place, where people can voice their opinion, no matter if it
is positive, neutral or negative. However, when posting, one must stay true to the topic, and not just share some
random thoughts, which are not directly related to the matter.
Things that are NOT allowed:
Off-topic talk - you must stick to the subject of discussion
Offensive, hate speech - if you want to say something, say it politely
Spam/Advertisements - these posts are deleted
Multiple accounts - one person can have only one account
Impersonations and offensive nicknames - these accounts get banned
Moderation is done by humans. We try to be as objective as possible and moderate with zero bias. If you think a
post should be moderated - please, report it.
Have a question about the rules or why you have been moderated/limited/banned? Please,
contact us.
FCC OKs Cingular\'s purchase of AT&T Wireless
Things that are NOT allowed: