For almost a decade, there have been reports on Apple’s unannounced self-driving car project, dubbed Project Titan. There have been a couple of different descriptions about it, from it having no steering wheels or pedals to it being not something for the public. As it turns out, none of that is happening at all, because Project Titan itself has been shelved.
Bloomberg reports that Apple has officially cancelled its self-driving car project, which has nearly 2,000 employees working on it. Some will be moved to generative AI projects, while others may be laid off, especially on the hardware side of things.
While the decision was a surprise to the on-ground workers, it was reportedly something that Apple senior executives have decided in “recent weeks”. The decision also comes after a few concessions were made to Project Titan, like reducing self-driving specifications from Level 4 to Level 2+. A prior shipping date of 2025 was also pushed further back to 2028.
The report also noted that the iPhone maker contemplated pricing the retail version of Project Titan at around US$100,000 (~RM476,100). Despite the price, the report notes that execs at the bitten fruit company “were concerned about the vehicle being able to provide the profit margins that Apple typically enjoys on its products”.
With Apple hammering the last nail into the Project Titan coffin, moving resources over to generative AI looks to be the obvious move, especially considering current trends. Company CEO Tim Cook has indicated as much during a recent earnings call, and for what it’s worth, the fruits of those labours look to be heading to end users a lot sooner anyway.
(Source: Bloomberg)
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