Apple is scuttling its secretive, long-running project to build an autonomous electric car, according to Bloomberg. The company has already started laying off some people who worked on the project, TechCrunch has learned.
The scope of the layoffs could not immediately be determined. Many of the nearly 2,000 employees who were still working on the project will be shifted to Apple’s generative AI projects, Bloomberg reported.
The decision to kill the project comes at a time when major automakers are reevaluating their investments in electric vehicles, and amid increased scrutiny on autonomous vehicle projects. Apple’s entry into the automotive sector was also seen as a possible boon to its bottom line, giving it a new source of revenue to help bolster against stagnating hardware sales and regulatory threats to its services business. Apple declined to comment.
Apple first started working on its car project, known internally as “Project Titan,” in 2014. It pivoted repeatedly over the last decade, though, oscillating between an emphasis on making an all-electric Tesla competitor and a fully-autonomous vehicle more akin to what Waymo has created. Most recently, Bloomberg reported in January that the project’s leadership was under pressure from Apple’s top executives and its board to find a way to bring something to market sooner than later.
This story is developing…
techcrunch.com
