Multiple major news sources online are reporting that Apple has finally shelved its electric vehicle project after working on it for almost a decade. While the project was cancelled, the team will reportedly still stay with the company, with some of the team members moved to Apple’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) division.
The project was originally called ‘Project Titan’ when it was first hinted way back in 2015. It was created to take advantage of the wave of interest in self-driving vehicles that was starting to take traction back then. Originally, Apple was supposed to launch a car either in 2024 or 2025.
However, the global pandemic hit, and it severely impacted the project as Apple continued with the development of the car. As recent as 2023, Apple was still testing prototypes of the car with a report saying the company had driven over 45,000 miles or over 72,000KM to test the autonomous driving capabilities of the car.
Apple autonomous EV dreams hit roadblocks
The original design of the car calls for a radical interior with no steering wheel for autonomous driving to a more conventional car design but with advanced driver-assistance features. Now that the project has been shelved, the final design may never be revealed to the general public.
Reports suggested that the car hit a few roadblocks during its development, including high turnover among staff, changing plans and even scepticism from the internal team.
While Apple abandoned its dream of creating its EV, Xiaomi and Sony are still going ahead with their plans. Xiaomi recently launched the SU7 while Sony teamed up with Honda to create the Afeela.
Apple is moving the car team to the AI division
Some of the team members working on the car will be shifted around, with many heading to the AI division, suggesting that Apple is finally bearing down on AI to be included in its future core products. The Verge reported the company is reportedly spending millions of dollars a day on training Ajax, Apple’s own AI model.
Even Tim Cook said that the company will be launching generative AI features “later this year” during a quarterly earnings call earlier this month. The announcement is in line with the expected launch window of Apple’s upcoming iOS18 update for iPhones.
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