No More Apple Electric Car: Project Titan Comes to an End
We have been posting a lot of news on Apple’s self-driving numbers. Bloomberg reports that the executives at Apple have asked the staff to stop working on Project Titan–the company’s decade-long mission of building electric cars by 2028.
Although it isn’t public yet, sources say that this news was shared by Apple’s Chief Operating Officer (COO), Jeff Williams, and the Vice President of Project Titan, Kevin Lynch, on February 27, 2024, taking the 2,000 employees by surprise.
The team working on the project–Special Projects Group (SPG)–will be shifted to Apple’s AI department. These employees will work on Gen AI projects under executive John Giannandrea, showing the company’s priorities at the moment.
However, the SPG doesn’t only include tech employees. It also has many car designers and manufacturers who may have the opportunity to apply for different positions at Apple. Or if not, we can expect hundreds of layoffs.
Financial Factors Could be the Primary Reason
This decision to end Project Titan may seem sudden, but it could be a well-thought-out move from Apple. The executives might be concerned about meeting profit margin expectations, as Apple priced the car around $100,000. These concerns eventually led to the winding down of this multibillion-dollar project.
Apple announced this project in 2014, taking the world, especially Elon Musk, by storm. The company aimed to design a limousine-like electric vehicle (EV) with advanced features by 2026.
However, things haven’t been easy for the tech giant since the start of the project. Apple had to change the project team’s leadership multiple times, with Lynch and Williams replacing Doug Field, the current senior executive at Ford Motor Co.
A few months ago, Bloomberg reported that the first Apple EV launch had been delayed from 2026 to 2028. Not only was the launch delayed, but the car’s self-driving features were also reduced from Level 4 to Level 2+ technology. In case you don’t know, Tesla’s electric cars are fully self-driving Level 4 autonomous vehicles.
Investors Take a Sigh of Relief
No Apple official has commented on this news yet, but social media is buzzing with mixed reactions from people.
While some Apple fans are sad, investors who faced declines in their stocks on February 27, 2024, have taken a sigh of relief. The project termination led to a slight increase in the company’s stock price. As Bloomberg reported this news, Apple’s shares saw a boost of about 0.5%, reaching $182.01 at 2:18 p.m. in New York.
In fact, the trendsetter of electric cars, Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla Inc., also seemed delighted with this news. He posted a “saluting emoji” on X (formerly Twitter), indirectly telling Apple that not everyone can do it. Musk doesn’t spare any chance!
Apple’s Investments in R&D and Gen AI
While Apple’s executives might be concerned about millions of dollars of annual spending on Project Titan, the company continued investing in R&D and Gen AI areas. As per an estimation, Apple has invested around $113 billion into R&D since 2019 at an average annual growth rate of 16%.
Apple’s recent products, including the latest versions of AirPods, AirTag, and Apple TV+, and its first-ever mixed reality device–Vision Pro headset–show that the company has been trying to enter new product categories.
The official statement from Apple about the Project Titan cancellation has yet to be made.