Apple is scrapping its secretive, long-running effort to build an autonomous electric car, executives announced in a brief meeting with the team Tuesday morning. The company is likely cutting hundreds of employees from the team and all work on the project has stopped, according to TechCrunch.
Some remaining employees will be transferred to Apple’s artificial intelligence production projects, according to Bloomberg, which first reported the cancellation of the project. Others will have 90 days to find a new assignment in other roles within the company or be let go. The car project still had about 1,400 employees, according to an employee who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about their work.
The decision to end the project comes at a time when major automakers are reviewing their investments in electric vehicles and amid increased scrutiny of autonomous vehicle projects. Apple’s entry into the automotive sector was also seen as a potential boon to its bottom line, giving it a new source of revenue to help bolster against stagnation hardware sales and regulatory threats to its services. Apple declined to comment.
Apple first began work on its car, known internally as “Project Titan,” in 2014. At one point, it had about 5,000 employees dedicated to the effort. But Apple has veered repeatedly over the past decade, oscillating between an emphasis on building an all-electric competitor to Tesla and a fully autonomous vehicle more akin to what Waymo has created. More recently, Bloomberg reported January that the project leadership was under pressure from Apple’s top executives and its board of directors to find a way to bring something to market as quickly as possible.
Apple chief operating officer Jeff Williams and Titan vice president Kevin Lynch broke the news to the team on Tuesday in a brief meeting that lasted about 12 minutes and took no questions, according to the employee. While this person described the announcement as abrupt, they said the decision was not, citing constantly shifting priorities.
Several high-profile auto industry executives have cycled through Project Titan over the years. Most notably, the project was once led by former Tesla executive Doug Field (who eventually left to take a role at Ford). Apple also poached executives from Lamborghini and Ford.
In 2021, that employee Ulrich Kranz, a former BMW executive who helped run the i3 program, away from EV startup Canoo. Apple once even lasted chats with Canoo as it searched the market for contract manufacturing partners, intellectual property and talent. This search also included conversations with Hyundai and Kia.
