Apple has abandoned development of an electric car, one of its most ambitious projects that took a decade of hard work, Bloomberg reported.
Photo source: Bloomberg
The decision to stop developing Apple's electric car, codenamed Project Titan, was made by Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams and Vice President Kevin Lynch.. Today it was announced to two thousand employees involved in the project. However, the decision is non-public and is known about it thanks to sources within the company.
Managers told employees that the electric vehicle project was being phased out, and some of the staff would be transferred to the artificial intelligence division under the leadership of John Giannandrea.. Now they will focus on the development of generative neural networks, which have become a higher priority for Apple.
However, at the same time, Apple's automotive team included several hundred hardware engineers and car designers.. It is unclear what they will do next. According to the source, layoffs are expected, but who exactly they will affect is unknown. Apple itself declined to comment.
The decision to stop work on the electric car was a sensation because a lot of time and money had been invested in this project. Apple began work on the machine in 2014 and investments in its creation exceeded several billion dollars.. Ultimately, the company wanted to create a fully autonomous electric car, costing around $100,000, with a limousine-like interior and voice control.
Senior Apple executives made the final decision in recent weeks, Bloomberg sources said.. Earlier it was reported that the development of the electric car had stalled, and Apple was considering the possibility of delaying its release until 2028 while simultaneously abandoning the fourth level autopilot. However, this did not dispel doubts about the insufficient margins of entering the automotive market, and management ultimately decided to curtail all developments.