Apple Scraps Its Electric Car Project: Report (Photo by Andy Wang on Unsplash)Apple has reportedly cancelled its plans to make an electric car. Bloomberg reported that the iPhone maker made this shocking announcement internally on Tuesday. Notably, it was one of the most ambitious undertakings in the history of Apple.
Bloomberg, citing people with knowledge of the matter, reported that Apple’s unexpected announcement to cancel its EV plan has surprised nearly 2,000 employees working on the project, under the codename Project Titan. Apple Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams and Kevin Lynch, a vice president in charge of the project, reportedly informed the staffers regarding the discontinuation.
Both the executives told employees that the electric car project will begin winding down and also added that several employees working on this significant undertaking will be shifted to Apple’s artificial intelligence (AI) division under executive John Giannandrea. Layoffs are also expected as part of the discontinuation. This move indicates that Apple is all set to give more attention to generative AI technology. It is to be noted that while companies including Google and Microsoft made big announcements regarding generative AI, the Cupertino-based tech company remained silent about their developments in this sector.
As per the report, Apple has been working on a car since 2014. Apple has also spent billions of dollars attempting to develop an electric vehicle. According to The Verge, the tech giant hired several key leaders for the project. This includes Tesla’s former Autopilot software director and the former CEO of the embattled EV startup Canoo.
However, Apple has faced a lot of challenges over the years. The company has reportedly changed the team’s leadership and strategy many times. In 2021, Apple CEO Tim Cook dropped a few hints regarding the Apple car. “An autonomous car is a robot. And so there’s lots of things you can do with autonomy. And we’ll see what Apple does,” said Tim Cook in an interview, as quoted by TechCrunch. Meanwhile, it is to be noted that Apple has not made any official statement regarding the abandonment of its electric car project.