(Image source: MacRumors)
The New York Times (NYT) has released a report detailing the troubled journey of Apple's electric car project.
According to NYT, the smart car project - codenamed Project Titan - was launched in 2014 when the world was obsessed with the prospect of a self-driving vehicle and the iPhone maker wanted to have the first mover advantage.
The Apple Watch had just launched and the company was looking for new growth drivers. Moreover, it is said that Apple CEO Tim Cook approved the project as part of the company's strategy to prevent its engineers from joining Telsa.
However, insiders told NYT that Project Titan was doomed from the start and even branded it "the Titanic disaster". Over the past 10 years, insiders claim Apple invested more than $10 billion and achieved nothing close to its dream of a self-driving vehicle.
Apple ended up with an electric vehicle that was similar to what Telsa is offering: driving-assistance features. Apparently, there were discussions with Elon Musk to acquire Telsa, but Apple ultimately decided against it as it preferred building its own vehicle. It then tried to pivot to self-driving car software in 2016, but the coding and algorithms proved too much for Apple.
Adding to the technical challenges was the regular change in team leadership. There were four different leaders over the years. Coupled with the several rounds of layoffs and rebooting of the team, employees felt increasingly uncertain about the prospects of the project.
NYT says Apple decided earlier this year to divert resources to generative AI as it is critical to the future of the iPhone business. Although Project Titan is cancelled, insiders say the AI and automation technologies developed would be used for future products including AI-powered AirPods with cameras, robot assistants and AR.
Source: The New York Times
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