Reports from US media on Tuesday revealed that Apple has decided to abandon its long-running project to develop an electric car, marking the end of a challenging decade-long endeavor. Despite dedicating nearly 2,000 employees to the secretive car development program, the tech giant faced formidable challenges in an increasingly competitive electric vehicle (EV) sector.
Dubbed “Project Titan” and initiated around 2014, the aim was to create a fully autonomous car. However, internal sources cited by Bloomberg and The New York Times disclosed that the decision to terminate the project was communicated internally on Tuesday. Apple had poured billions of dollars into the venture, although the company remained tight-lipped about its EV ambitions despite ongoing media speculation.
The difficulties faced by the project, including the departure of key executives due to lack of support, were highlighted in a 2022 report by The Information. Concurrently, several US automakers have scaled back their EV efforts amid slowing demand, while self-driving car companies like Cruise and Waymo have struggled to expand beyond San Francisco.
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, a leading player in the EV industry, responded to news of Apple’s project termination with emojis indicating a salute and a cigarette. Apple reportedly plans to redeploy many of the employees from its disbanded car division to focus on generative artificial intelligence (AI) projects, which have garnered increasing attention within the tech industry.
“While the termination of the Apple Car project may disappoint some, the shift to prioritizing AI initiatives underscores Apple’s commitment to innovation,” commented Wedbush analyst Dan Ives. He noted that the company’s intensified focus on AI aligns with broader industry trends, with major tech players like Google, Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon investing heavily in AI development and deployment.
Generative AI, exemplified by successes like ChatGPT from Microsoft-backed OpenAI, enables the creation of various forms of content simply by submitting requests in natural language. Although Apple has previously utilized AI in areas such as photo editing, its specific AI strategy beyond this remains relatively undisclosed compared to its industry counterparts.
