Apple Car project may be dead after a 10-year-long journey

Apple may have finally given up on its ambitious electric car, putting an end to its pursuit of nearly 10 years to make a breakthrough in the automobile industry. Around 2,000 people working on the long-rumoured Project Titan will likely be shifted to the generative AI department, which seems like the need of the hour if the iPhone maker wants to play catch-up. While there is no official announcement from Apple — and possibly there will never be, the Tim Cook-led company has been working on building its electric car for a long time in a quest to outdo Google — and maybe Tesla — in several ways.

According to Bloomberg, Apple has internally shared the unfortunate news with people who have so far been dedicated to making Project Titan a reality. While the company is reportedly trying to absorb people into the generative AI team, Apple’s chief operating officer Jeff Williams and vice president heading the project Kevin Lynch have told employees there may be layoffs. The report, however, does not say how many people will be affected.

Project Titan

Rumours about Apple developing its electric car with autonomous driving technology go back as far as 2015 when the company onboarded several key people from the industry. Leading the project reportedly was a former Tesla Autopilot software director, while other key people included the ex-CEO of American EV startup Canoo.

However, over the past few years, Apple faced several challenges in the development of the car. While there were numerous technical issues Apple faced with the kind of technology it wanted to develop, many people working on the project left the company. Apple car chief Doug Field was one of them who abandoned the project and quit the company in 2021. According to a report by The Information, people working for Project Titan struggled to keep pace because of sudden changes in plans, Apple’s high standards, and the doubt over whether the project would ever come to fruition.

Apple never officially confirmed it was working on an autonomous car, but reports have suggested this was the original idea. A Wired report suggested that Apple’s prototype used in-house autonomous driving technology to run over 72,000km last year. Another report from Bloomberg in January said that Apple has pushed back the launch of its first car to 2028. However, while reports about Apple’s car being still in the works gave hope to enthusiasts, some reports downplayed the company’s actual plan. According to these leaks, Apple had long back changed its goal from launching an autonomous car to just an electric car. It could have been a measure taken by Apple to keep the costs below the $100,000 mark. Guess, we will never know now.