Apple just turned the Apple Car hype meter up a notch: The company recently registered a set of domains that are undeniably related to their plans for an Apple automobile. The company registered apple.car, apple.cars, and apple.auto in December, according to the keen eyes at MacRumors.
The three domains were registered on December 9, 2015, according to the Whois records noticed by MacRumors, which were updated on January 8. None of the domains are currently active.
These domain registrations are just three in a pool of thousands by Apple. Apple Inc. is associated with more than 10,000 domains, while domains@apple.com is associated with more than 13,000, and apple-noc@apple.com is associated with nearly 4,000, according to Whois.
It’s also worth noting that Apple’s CarPlay may be the beneficiary of these domain registrations.
Nevertheless, this is likely the first of many Apple Car breadcrumbs in 2016. Last year was full of reports about Apple’s “Project Titan,” including the hiring of a former Tesla senior engineer, word that the company’s car will be an electric vehicle, and sources saying the company is targeting a 2019 ship date.