Apple is rumored to be in talks to acquire McLaren, but that’s not all. While the New York Times was digging on the McLaren story, they also found out that Apple is also talking with Lit Motors for a potential acquisition.
Now you might be thinking “Lit who?” While Lit Motors is nowhere as big as McLaren, it’s another interesting company in the automotive space.
The company participated in the Startup Battlefield at TechCrunch Disrupt SF back in 2012. At the time, the team had an impressive on-stage demo, allowing them to finish at the second place.
The San Francisco-based startup is developing a new kind of electric vehicle. It’s a sort of electric motorcycle with a few tricks up its sleeve. In particular, you can’t tip it over because it uses gyros to stabilize itself.
Sure, gyros have become quite common with the so-called hoverboards. But it’s still impressive to try and kick over a big vehicle like this one and see that it doesn’t move an inch.
According to CrunchBase, the company has only raised $2.2 million in total. It’s unclear if the company still has money today to survive as an independent entity or if it has been looking for an acquirer.
Apple has been working on a car project for a few years now. While it’s still a secretive project, there are plenty of rumors going around. In particular, the company is fighting with many other car and tech companies for talent.
Acquiring Lit Motors could be a great way to have a few talented engineers join the car project. We’ve reached out to Lit Motors and will update this post if we hear back. In the meantime, please enjoy Lit Motors’ 2012 pitch: