San Francisco, February 28: Apple has reportedly shelved its autonomous electric car project permanently and is likely to lay off “hundreds of employees” from the division, the media reported on Wednesday.
According to a TechCrunch report, the company is likely “cutting hundreds of employees from the team and all work on the project has stopped”. Some employees will be shifted to Apple’s generative AI (GenAI) projects. The Apple car project had around 1,400 employees.
Apple first started working on its car project called “Project Titan” way back in 2014. In 2021, it hired Ulrich Kranz, a former BMW executive who helped run the i3 programme. In December last year, Apple delayed the launch of its electric vehicle, referred to as the 'Apple Car', until 2026 which was expected to be priced under $1,00,000.
The tech giant also scaled back its vision for the self-driving electric vehicle. Initially, the iPhone maker intended to create an automobile with no steering wheel or pedals, allowing passengers to sit facing one another in a limousine-style vehicle. Later, the project was reduced in scope and was set to have a more traditional design with a driver's seat, steering wheel and pedals, according to earlier reports.
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