Apple puts the brakes on struggling electric car project

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Apple car concept art shows what Cupertino might put on the road.
Apple car concept art shows what Cupertino might put on the road.
Photo: Aristomenis Tsirbas/Freelancer

Jony Ive is apparently not pleased with progress on the secret Apple car project.

Apple has more than 1,000 employees working on its electric car, dubbed Project Titan, but the company reportedly has put a hiring freeze in place after a post-holiday progress review revealed the Apple car isn’t on the right track.

The first signs of trouble within Project Titan appeared last week, when it was discovered the mastermind behind the electric car project, Steve Zadesky, is leaving Apple for personal reasons. Zadesky’s performance leading the car project for the last two years supposedly had nothing to do with his exit but reports from inside Apple claim the project’s workers have been given unattainable deadlines and no clear goals on what they are expected to deliver.

Apple has now placed a hiring freeze on the entire department, according to a new report from AppleInsider, which claims design chief Ive has “expressed his displeasure” with Project Titan team’s headway.

The car was expected to be ready for launch sometime around 2020, but that target could now be in jeopardy if the car isn’t as far along as Tim Cook had hoped. Apple has aggressively poached engineers from automakers like Tesla, VW and Mercedes. While Cupertino hasn’t publicly admitted that it’s building a car, Tesla’s Elon Musk said the Apple car is an open secret in the automotive industry.

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