Apple Stopped Electric Car Project Titan

Apple has stopped its work on “Project Titan”, its long-awaited electric car initiative, according to Bloomberg news. The company announced this decision internally on Tuesday and stated that most of the 2,000-person team will now be shifted to productive artificial intelligence work.

Apple’s chief operating officer Jeff Williams and vice president of the project Kevin Lynch informed employees about the termination of the project. According to Bloomberg, this will also lead to some layoffs, but it is not yet clear how many employees will be affected.

Apple’s efforts to develop its own electric car have been the subject of rumors for years. Recent news suggested that Apple was still actively developing the project. Earlier this month, Wired reported that Apple had driven over 70 thousand kilometers with the autonomous driving technology it developed in 2023. Bloomberg said in January that Apple postponed the expected launch of the vehicle to 2028.

Apple is giving up on its electric car dream

Apple’s mysterious car project, which first appeared in 2015, was called “Project Titan”. Apple has hired several key leaders to work on the project, including Tesla’s former Autopilot software director and the former CEO of troubled EV startup Canoo. However, the project has faced many obstacles over the years, including the departure of Apple car chief Doug Field in 2021. In 2022, a report published by The Information revealed that Apple was struggling with high staff turnover, constantly changing plans, and internal skepticism.

Other reports had suggested that the vehicle would be priced below $100,000, though it would not have the advanced autonomous driving capabilities the company had initially hoped for. It might make sense for Apple to shift its resources to AI, after all, the company is reportedly spending millions of dollars a day on its own AI model, Ajax. Apple CEO Tim Cook also recently confirmed that Apple will roll out generative AI features “later this year,” while there are also rumors that the company is testing AI updates for Spotlight and Xcode.

Apple may have given up on its dream of an electric vehicle with self-driving features, but Sony and Honda continue to work on Afeela electric cars, which they plan to open for pre-orders in North America next year and have a launch in 2026.