Apple to unveil its first electric car in 2019

Apple Inc has designated building an electric car as a "committed project" and has set a target shipping date for 2019, the Times of India reports, citing the Wall Street Journal.

The project has been code-named Titan and its leaders have been given permission to triple the 600-person team, the WSJ said, citing people familiar with the matter.

For Apple, a "ship date" doesn't necessarily mean the date that customers receive a new product; it can also mean the date that engineers sign off on the product's main features, the WSJ said.

Apple spent more than a year investigating the feasibility of an Apple-branded car, including meeting with two groups of government officials in California, according to the Journal.

Sources told Reuters in August that Apple was developing a car and studying self-driving technology, but it was unclear if the iPhone maker was designing a vehicle that could drive itself.

Apple was not immediately available for comment.