Apple has officially closed down all development on its electric car. A report claims that after ten years of research and development, the Apple Car project, which was known as “Project Titan” has been shut down as the company looks towards AI efforts instead.
According to previous reports, the Apple Car project had around 2,000 people working on the team. The project has been in development for over ten years now as Apple eyed the electrical car market and wanted to design and create an ambitious smart car.
The project’s team has now been dismantled and reports claim there are possible layoffs happening at the company as a result. However, the exact number has not been confirmed yet.
Apple got quite far into developing this smart car. The company reportedly drove over 72,000km in 2023 testing its in-house autonomous driving tech. The car’s launch was expected to take place in 2028 after it initially aimed for a 2026 release. Of course, that launch won’t happen now.
Apple’s Project Titan has been its bumpiest project to date. Initially leaked in 2015, reports claim that the division suffered from the company’s highest staff turnover. The project changed on a monthly basis and internal scepticism caused staff to leave the project to work with other teams.
While the Apple Car is dead, for now, the company plans on using its manpower behind the project to help speed up the development of its generative AI. Apple is expected to debut its AI features this year as it launches on devices at the end of 2024.
Source: Bloomberg
