Apple reportedly abandons multibillion-dollar electric car project
Reports indicate that the tech giant announced the end of its secretive and resource-intensive project during a meeting, also forecasting layoffs
According to several sources, Apple is canceling its plans to develop an electric car, thus concluding a secretive project that has utilized significant resources for the past decade. Executives made this unexpected announcement during an internal meeting on Tuesday, outlining layoffs and informing employees that many would transition to working on generative artificial intelligence.
Apple is believed to have invested billions of dollars in developing an electric, semi-autonomous vehicle under the codename Project Titan. The decision to terminate the program represents a significant retreat from its previous strategy.
While Apple CEO Tim Cook had hinted at the company’s interest in a car in recent years, the company never fully committed to delivering a product. Despite not formally announcing its plans for a car, the project sparked intense speculation within the automotive and tech industries. Apple hired executives from prestigious car manufacturers like Lamborghini and Tesla to lead its development efforts and acquired the autonomous vehicle startup Drive.ai in 2019.
Apple did not respond to a request for comment regarding the decision to terminate the program. The announcement reportedly came as a surprise to the hundreds of employees involved in the project, and job cuts may be imminent.
Since beginning work on the concept in 2014, Apple’s plans for an electric car have frequently changed. Despite efforts to bring a product to market, the project has encountered numerous setbacks over the years.
In a restructuring in 2016, Apple laid off several employees associated with the project. Additionally, in 2021, the project’s key executive left Apple to join Ford.
Earlier this year, Bloomberg reported that Apple had pushed back its estimated release date for the car to at least 2028. According to Bloomberg, Apple had also scaled back its ambitions for the car, shifting from a fully autonomous vehicle to one with some self-driving capabilities similar to Tesla’s vehicles. In contrast, just a few years ago, the company had contemplated creating a completely self-driving car without a steering wheel, featuring a wrap-around seat interior akin to a limousine.
In response to Apple’s decision to discontinue its electric car project, Tesla CEO Elon Musk posted emojis of a salute and a cigarette on Twitter.
According to reports, Apple plans to allocate more resources to its generative AI projects. This includes transferring researchers and engineers who previously worked on the automotive project to its special projects group.
Earlier this month, Cook stated during a quarterly earnings call that Apple was dedicating “a tremendous amount of time and effort” to artificial intelligence. He also mentioned that Apple would introduce generative AI features to consumers within the year.
