(Telecompaper) Apple has been secretly developing an Apple-branded electric vehicle, with hundreds of people working on the project code-named "Titan", The Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal reported, citing different sources familiar with the matter. The people said that the first design resembles a minivan. CEO Tim Cook last year approved the car project and assigned product design VP Steve Zadesky to lead the group, sources said. Zadesky is a former Ford engineer who helped lead the Apple teams that created the iPod and iPhone. He was given permission to create a 1,000-person team and take employees from different parts of the company. Working from a private location a few miles from Apple's corporate headquarters in Cupertino, the team is researching different types of robotics, metals and materials consistent with automobile manufacturing, the people said.