Apple has been working on its driverless car—Project Titan—for more than a decade. But now, the tech giant is officially calling it quits. According to Bloomberg, Apple has killed its electric car plans to focus on generative artificial intelligence instead.
More than 2,000 employees assigned to the project were told Tuesday that it would be discontinued, unnamed sources told Bloomberg. The announcement was reportedly made by Apple Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams and Vice President in charge of the project, Kevin Lynch. A number of those employees will move to Apple's AI team, but others will face layoffs.
“Apple made the disclosure internally Tuesday, surprising the nearly 2,000 employees working on the project,” the report says.
Apple started on Project Titan in 2014 as a fully autonomous vehicle a la Waymo, but then shifted to something more akin to a Tesla competitor—and was even rumored to parter with current automakers like Hyundai and Toyota. The company reportedly ramped up on-road tests over the last few months before rumors indicated that the project was slimmed down earlier this year.
Apple was aiming for an on-sale date of 2026 before pushing that date back to 2028, and rumors indicated that the production model would cost just under $100,000. Fully autonomous driving would be available for use on the highway. But now, the dream of an iCar is likely dead for good.
