Apple’s extensive research, costing billions of dollars, aimed to create a car that could compete with Tesla’s electric vehicles, known for their autonomous driving capabilities.
Apple has decided not to proceed with its project to launch a self-driving electric car, which had been under development for almost ten years. During a private meeting on Tuesday, the company informed its employees that the project had been canceled. The individuals involved in the project will now be assigned to various positions, including roles within Apple’s artificial intelligence division. This information was shared by an anonymous source who attended the meeting.
Kevin Lynch, an executive previously involved in the car project, will now report to John Giannandrea, the company’s head of artificial intelligence strategy, as part of the restructuring. Apple chose not to provide a comment. Bloomberg first reported the news about Apple discontinuing its car project. The car Apple was working on had been a badly kept secret in Silicon Valley for a long time, despite not being shown to consumers yet.
It’s unusual for Apple to cancel projects that are public and high-profile, but they decided to do so this time. In recent years, the company has had difficulty expanding as the iPhone market has become saturated and customers are upgrading their phones less frequently.
Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, mentioned that Apple was considering getting involved in the automotive sector. Testing of hundreds of vehicles with autonomous driving technology in public had been ongoing for many years by the company. Developing the car, known internally as Titan and Project 172, was difficult due to division closures, plan changes, and layoffs. Apple invested billions of dollars in researching a car to compete with Tesla’s electric vehicles, which have autonomous driving capabilities.
This product held significant importance for Mr. Cook’s legacy, as it aimed to challenge the belief that Apple had lost its innovative edge and ability to introduce revolutionary ideas. Mr. Cook has brought in a few new hardware products during his time as the leader of the company. These include the Apple Watch, which is now the top-selling smart watch, and the Vision Pro, a virtual reality headset that competes with Meta’s headsets. However, the HomePod smart speaker did not do well in the market. A large amount of money was put into developing new technologies by the company. In the last five years, $113 billion was spent on research and development.
