Apple has halted its long-rumored “Project Titan” work on developing an electric car, according to Bloomberg. The company reportedly announced the news internally on Tuesday and said many people in the 2,000-person team behind the car will shift to generative AI efforts instead.
Apple chief operating officer Jeff Williams and Kevin Lynch, a vice president in charge of the project, informed employees of the project’s discontinuation, Bloomberg reports. The outlet adds that there will also be layoffs, but it’s not clear how many workers it will affect.
Apple’s efforts to build its own electric car have been rumored for years, with a recent report from Wired saying that Apple had driven over 45,000 miles in 2023 using the autonomous driving tech it’s developed. Last month, Bloomberg reported that Apple pushed back the car’s expected launch to 2028. The Verge reached out to Apple with a request for comment but didn’t immediately hear back.
Rumors about Apple’s secretive car project, nicknamed Project Titan, first emerged in 2015. Apple hired a number of key leaders to work on the project, including Tesla’s former Autopilot software director and the former CEO of the embattled EV startup Canoo. However, the project seems to have hit a number of roadblocks over the years. In 2022, a report from The Information outlined how Apple had struggled with high turnover among staff, constantly changing plans, and internal skepticism.
Meanwhile, other reports suggested that the car, which was rumored to remain under the $100,000 threshold, wouldn’t come with the advanced self-driving capabilities the company initially hoped.
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