Apple has dropped its plans to develop and sell an autonomous electric “Apple Car,” according to a Bloomberg report. The project had been in development for more than a decade and the Cupertino firm has invested millions into the project before canceling it.
Bloomberg says the news came from Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams and Kevin Lynch, a vice president in charge of the Apple Car effort. The announcement reportedly came as a surprise to the approximately 2,000 employees working on the project.
Many of the employees who were working on the car will move to Apple’s artificial intelligence division to work on generative AI under AI chief John Giannandrea.
Unfortunately, there will be layoffs, although some of the hardware engineers and car designers who were on the Apple Car team may be able to move to other divisions and projects in the firm.
Earlier this year, rumors of the Apple Car project being scaled back began to circulate, as Apple abandoned previous plans for a fully autonomous vehicle. The company was said to instead be focusing on an electric vehicle with fewer self-driving features. The target release date was said to be 2026, but now the project has been canceled completely.
News of an “Apple Car” first surfaced back in 2014, and since then we’ve reported on the several advancements and issues the team has faced since development started. The project has faced internal strife and leadership changes over the years, until recent weeks, when senior Apple executives decided to terminate the project.
