Apple’s electric car project reportedly canceled
Apple is canceling its decade-long electric car project, Bloomberg reports. The company has reportedly invested millions of dollars into the project, but has now determined that it isn’t viable.
COO Jeff Williams today told the approximately 2,000 Apple employees working on the EV project that it is canceled, which came as a surprise to the team, according to the report. Many of the people assigned to the project will reportedly be moved to Apple’s AI department. Some layoffs are expected, though, TechCrunch reports.
Rumors of an Apple electric car started in 2014. Often referred to as Project Titan, it’s been wrapped in mystery from the start. Little concrete information about the project has been released, but a steady stream of car-related patent filings and auto-industry hires has fueled speculation over the past decade.
Bloomberg reported in January that Apple would launch a car in 2028, or two years later than some previous reports. But an exact timeline for the Apple car was always hard to pin down. A 2015 report claimed Apple had labeled the car a “committed project” and was targeting a 2019 launch date.
Apple was thought to be developing a car with true-self driving capability, but the January Bloomberg report claimed the company had scaled that back to a driver-assist system closer to what’s already offered by Ford, General Motors, and Tesla.
While it won’t have its own car, Apple isn’t turning away from the auto industry. The company is rolling out a next-generation Apple CarPlay system with Porsche and Aston Martin featuring more elaborate displays and greater integration with vehicle systems.