Even 1800 people working on the project wouldn't indicate that Apple takes the project seriously.
The number of BMW employees in R&D at the headquarter in Munich is about 20000. There are another 10000 contractors working onsite. This are the numbers for R&D only, not including production. The numbers also don't include the employees of the numerous suppliers.
In addition to that:
BMW is an established car manufacturer. They don't need to develop a car from scratch.
BMW is one of the smaller car manufacturers, I don't have numbers for VW or Toyota.
The number of BMW employees in R&D at the headquarter in Munich is about 20000. There are another 10000 contractors working onsite. This are the numbers for R&D only, not including production. The numbers also don't include the employees of the numerous suppliers.
In addition to that:
BMW is an established car manufacturer. They don't need to develop a car from scratch.
BMW is one of the smaller car manufacturers, I don't have numbers for VW or Toyota.