Apple cancels self-driving EV project, will lay off employees: report

San Francisco: Apple has reportedly permanently shut down its autonomous electric car project. “Hundreds of employees” are expected to be laid off from the division after this. According to a TechCrunch report, the company is likely “laying off 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 approximately 1,400 employees.
Apple first started working on its car project called “Project Titan” in 2014. It hired former BMW executive Ulrich Kranz in 2021, who helped run the i3 program. In December last year, Apple had postponed the launch of its electric vehicle, called ‘Apple Car’, to 2026, which was expected to be priced below one lakh dollars. The iPhone maker first intended to create an automobile without a steering wheel or pedals, allowing passengers to sit facing each other in a limousine-style vehicle. According to earlier reports, the scope of the project was later reduced, and a more conventional design was created with a driver’s seat, steering wheel and pedals.