SAN FRANCISCO — Apple is speeding up work on a project that could lead to the California tech giant building its own electric car, according to a new report.

The maker of iPhones and iPads is tripling the number of engineers on the project, code-named Titan, and has set a “ship date” of 2019, The Wall Street Journal said Monday.

The newspaper said that could just be a target for engineers to sign off on the design, not necessarily when a car would be available for sale.

Apple declined comment Monday on the Journal report, which cited unidentified sources.

While Apple has never officially confirmed it’s planning to build a car, there are strong indications it’s at least interested in automotive technology. In recent months, Apple has hired a number of engineers with backgrounds in automotive and battery design.

Apple representatives also met in May with officials at an automotive testing facility located east of San Francisco. Site officials later confirmed to The Associated Press that Apple requested information about using their facility.

And last month, an Apple attorney met with officials at California’s Department of Motor Vehicles to discuss the state’s regulations for self-driving cars.