Project Titan, Apple’s secret electric car program that was greenlit by Tim Cook two years ago, is facing a serious crisis.
The iPhone maker has reportedly laid off dozens of employees that were working on the auto project, even though the company has already started testing a couple of autonomous vehicles the team built.
“In a retrenchment of one of its most ambitious initiatives, Apple has shuttered parts of its self-driving car project and laid off dozens of employees,” reports The New York Times.
Apple’s car project hit some major roadbumps earlier this year after automotive mastermind Steve Zadesky left the company for personal reasons.
Apple veteran Bob Mansfield was brought out of retirement to lead the team that now consists of more than 1,000 employees, but the focus has allegedly shifted from building a car to developing the underlying technology that powers self-driving cars.
Employees were told that the layoffs are part of a “reboot” of the car project. Details on how Apple plans to change its car strategy have yet to be revealed.
To beef up talent on its car project, Apple has poached key engineers from companies like Ford, Tesla and Mercedes. Early rumors claimed Apple was aiming to launch its electric car by 2020. However, recent struggles make it look like the Apple car won’t be road-ready until 2021 or later.
Buster Hein is a freelance writer who lives in Phoenix, Arizona. Twitter: @bst3r.
3 responses to “Apple hits reboot button on electric car project”
I struggle to see why they’d go after a car if an argument against an AppleTV set as opposed to STB was that people don’t replace them often enough. Unless they only plan to lease with no buyout option at the end.
By my count, this is at least the 2nd time we PUBLICLY heard that the project got rebooted. We don’t know how many times it has been soft rebooted internally.
Apple’s competitors will have vehicles on public roads within 12 to 24 months. Apple is not innovating and delivering in this space.
Which Apple competitors (with an ‘s’) are you referring to? Google? I doubt they’ll have anything for sale in that time frame. Or in any time frame, come to think of it – didn’t gmail just come out of beta a couple years ago, after 10 years in beta?
Then there are the traditional car makers – but they’re not particularly close in manufacturing an electric car, much less an autonomous electric one. Sure BMW and Nissan have electrics with very limited range, but there’s no sign of advanced autonomous driving expertise from either of them.