The group at Apple developing a self-driving electric car has been “dissolved for some time,” according to a reliable source of insider information. But the project supposedly hasn’t been canceled — it’s undergoing a reorganization.
This is likely a reflection of the many difficulties Apple has run into with this very complex project.
Apple Car takes a pit stop
At first, a tweet from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo sounds like very bad news for anyone looking forward to Apple’s self-driving vehicle. “The Apple Car project team has been dissolved for some time,” is how it starts out.
But it seems the situation is less dramatic. “The reorganization within the next three to six months is necessary to achieve the goal of mass production by 2025,” is how Kuo finished the tweet.
He’s an analyst with TF International Securities with a long history of leaking Apple’s upcoming products. His accuracy rating is 72.5%, according to AppleTrack.
A long and bumpy road
Kuo is already on the record with a prediction that an Apple car could hit the road in 2025. But if he’s right, it’ll be after more than a decade of struggle.
Apple has been hard at work on a self-driving vehicle since 2014. Prototypes have been in testing for years. Even if CEO Tim Cook won‘t publicly commit to releasing anything.
The reorganization Kuo mentioned Tuesday is apparently part of high-level changes in the past year or so. The whole development team was transferred into Apple’s artificial intelligence division in late 2020.
In June 2021, Apple hired Ulrich Kranz, who once developed electric cars for auto giant BMW. Apple’s VP of Technology Kevin Lynch was added to the Apple Car project in July. Then Doug Field, who’d reportedly been managing the project, left the company in September.
So it’s no surprise that the Apple Car team is undergoing some changes. They’re working on a very complex project — one that no other company has been able to solve, either. Especially since Apple’s goal is reportedly to produce a fully autonomous vehicle.