As expected, the cancellation of Apple’s vehicle project and microLED display project for Apple Watch has resulted in the layoff of 600 Apple employees. Apple this week filed a required notice with the state of California, informing the state of their plans to permanently lay off the employees. California law requires employers to give employees and state representatives a 60-day notice before a mass layoff event.
The employees are listed as being employed in several Apple-occupied buildings in the Santa Clara, California area, near Apple’s Cupertino headquarters. Several of these locations were reportedly associated with the Project Titan vehicle project, so the layoffs are likely connected to Apple’s cancellation of the project.
Apple announced that it had ended development on the Apple Car project in March. The approximately 2,000 employees working on the project were told of the project’s cancellation, and some of the employees were then moved to work on artificial intelligence and other projects.
The remaining employees were given 90 days to apply for open positions within the company. However, since Apple had hired hardware engineers and car designers for the Apple Car, those employees may not have skills that could be useful to other projects.
Apple also recently ended development on in-house microLED displays for the Apple Watch, so some of the layoffs might also be connected to the discontinuation of that project.
