Apple's Long-Rumored Electric Car Is Reportedly Dead
Apple may have shattered dreams of a few Apple fans awaiting the launch of the tech giant's first-ever electric car. The company's long-rumored electric car project — internally known as "Project Titan" — is reportedly dead after Apple decided to pull the plug on the project.
According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, who cites an unnamed source; Apple's Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams (along with Kevin Lynch, vice president in charge of the company's EV efforts) conveyed this development on Tuesday, February 27, 2024, to more than 2000 Apple employees directly involved with Project Titan.
The Bloomberg report also indicates that this development could result in Apple winding down several positions, leading to layoffs — the first for Apple since a series of layoffs hit technology companies starting early in 2023. It is unclear at this time how many jobs would be directly affected by this development.
Most Apple employees working on Project Titan are part of Apple's "Special Projects Group," and several of them are reportedly going to be integrated into the company's artificial intelligence (AI) division, which has lately become an important area of focus for Apple, given all the recent advancements in the generative AI space.
The long, weary history of Project Titan
Apple reportedly began working on its ambitious goal to come up with an electric car almost a decade ago. Right from the beginning, Apple set lofty ambitions for the project, envisioning the company's car as a fully autonomous vehicle that would feature limousine-like luxurious interiors. Apple's obvious goal was to come up with something that would be a true rival to Tesla's past and existing lineup, which continues to be the most popular EV brand in the U.S. and abroad.
What also set Apple's EV goals apart from other players in the segment was its plan to achieve Level 4 autonomous driving — essentially a fully autonomous car — right from day one. The company even set an internal target for launching the car by at least 2026. However, Apple's efforts faced challenges right from the start, with the company ending up changing its strategy and leadership several times in the past decade.
The most recent delay, reported as recently as January 2024, concerned the difficulties Apple faced in achieving the desired level of autonomous driving. Daunted by these challenges, Apple had to pare down its expectations of autonomous driving to Level 2+, which is roughly similar to what most Tesla cars offer consumers.
Aside from not reaching the desired level of autonomous driving, senior Apple executives were also concerned about Apple's EV not generating the same level of profit margins it typically enjoys on consumer electronics products.