Apple’s chief operating officer Jeff Williams and Kevin Lynch, a vice president in charge of the project, informed employees of the project’s discontinuation, Bloomberg reports. The outlet adds that there will also be layoffs, but it’s not clear how many workers it will affect.
Apple’s efforts to build its own electric car have been rumored for years, and recent reports suggested Apple was still working on the project. Earlier this month, Wired reported that Apple had driven over 45,000 miles in 2023 using the autonomous driving tech it’s developed, while Bloomberg said in January Apple pushed back the car’s expected launch to 2028. The Verge reached out to Apple with a request for comment but didn’t immediately hear back.
Rumors about Apple’s secretive car project, nicknamed Project Titan, first emerged in 2015. Apple hired a number of key leaders to work on the project, including Tesla’s former Autopilot software director and the former CEO of the embattled EV startup Canoo. However, the project seems to have hit a number of roadblocks over the years, including the 2021 departure of Apple car chief Doug Field. In 2022, a report from The Information outlined how Apple had struggled with high turnover among staff, constantly changing plans, and internal skepticism.
Meanwhile, other reports suggested that the car, which was rumored to remain under the $100,000 threshold, wouldn’t come with the advanced self-driving capabilities the company initially hoped. Shifting its resources to AI might make sense for Apple, as it’s reportedly spending millions of dollars a day on training an AI model of its own, called Ajax. Apple CEO Tim Cook also recently confirmed that Apple is launching generative AI features “later this year,” while rumors indicate the company is testing AI updates for Spotlight and Xcode.
Even though Apple may have abandoned the self-driving electric vehicle dream, Sony and Honda are still working to open preorders for their Afeela electric cars with autonomous features in North America next year ahead of a rollout in 2026.
(techspresso)
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