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Apple has been working on its own electric car division for more than 10 years but it seems the company has decided to end that dream and focus on other matters. Apple is said to have invested billions into the project codenamed Titan but now it wants to spend its energy and resources in building applications in Gen AI.
Some of the people hired specifically for the car project are likely going to be laid off, while some could be absorbed into other teams that are actively working on new products and services at the company.
The report from Bloomberg states Apple informed about this big decision in front of 2,000 employees who have been part of the car project, and some of these will now be focusing on building Gen AI and other projects at the company. Technically, Apple has never shared details or even confirmed about its plans to make a car, or that it is working on one. But we’ll probably get some clarity on the news later this year, as Tim Cook and Co. look to build on core products that will continue to fill Apple’s coffers.
And that’s where the car project might have taken a backseat first and then eventually made them realise the challenge to not only sell the car but also take care of the issues that car owners face and expect brands to help them manage.
Reports say Apple wanted to bring its Tesla rival for around $100,000 which would have put it up against the Tesla Model X. Having a newbie brand to sell a car at that price would have made it challenging for consumers to trust Apple, as much as they do with iPhones and Macs, because that has been its bread and butter for decades.
Apple not only faces a tough fight from Tesla but you have other traditional car makers now also invested in the electric vehicles, making the task even harder. Apple was never going to find it easy to make an affordable self-driving car, and the new developments on the project suggest the company finally realised the investment was not going to be worth it, even in the long term.
Having said that, it would make a lot of sense for Apple to invest in the software side of a car, something that could be of interest to car makers who struggle in this aspect and have a new version of CarPlay that can actually form part of the vehicle ecosystem.
