iPhone-maker Apple stops work on electric car, Tesla CEO reacts

Apple has decided to shut down its electric vehicle project after working on it since 2014. Rising costs and other factors are reportedly behind its decision to call off Project Titan. (Photo courtesy: YouTube)

Apple has decided to call off its electric car development project after a decade, transferring some employees to the artificial intelligence department. According to a Bloomberg report, the decision comes after challenges in the automotive industry and market demand changes have put pressure on project development. The electric car project, known as Project Titan, was one of the most ambitious projects in the history of the Silicon Valley–based tech giant known for its products like iPhone.

According to reports, the decision was shared among Apple’s Project Titan employees discreetly by some of the executives. At the time of the decision, the Apple electric car project employed around 2,000 people. CEO Jeff Williams and Kevin Lynch, vice president in charge of the project shared the decision on Tuesday, according to the Bloomberg report. They informed the employees that the project will shut down and several members of the Apple electric car team will be shifted to focus on generative AI projects. The tech giant has not shared any official statement on the decision yet.

Project Titan was one of the biggest and most expensive projects undertaken by Apple in recent times. It started working on the electric car sometime in 2014 investing around 162 billion dollars. The company had roped in experts from established global auto brands like Aston Martin, Lamborghini, BMW and Porsche. Apple had aimed to develop a fully autonomous electric car with a limousine-like interior and voice-guided navigation. The electric car Apple planned to launch would have come without a steering wheel and pedals. The company had also planned to work on technology that could offer remote driving of its car. The company had projected the price of its electric car to be around $100,000. The tech giant also started to test its self-driving technology since 2017 using a Lexus SUV.

Despite all the efforts, Apple met little success and the project reached a make-or-break point recently due to rising costs and delays. The Apple board was not sure on investing huge amount on the electric car that increasingly seemed an impossible dream for Apple.

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, reacted to the report of Apple shutting down its electric car project. On Tuesday, he shared a post on X with a saluting emoji and a cigarette. He had earlier commented about Apple’s effort saying, “Prototypes are easy, volume production is hard, positive cash flow is excruciating.” Tesla, the second largest electric vehicle manufacturer in the world, could benefit from the decision. Tesla has been cutting down on prices of its EVs, some of them by up to 25 per cent, to sell more cars. Apple’s entry into the segment with a tech and AI-loaded electric car could have posed a bigger threat to its market.

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