Apple abandons its biggest project. Billions of dollars are like blood in sand
Apple has canceled its ambitious plan to build an electric car. The project, known internally as “Titan”, was developed for a decade and pumped with billions of dollars. Instead, the manufacturer will focus on artificial intelligence.
The “Titan” project, which involved a plan to build an electric car, was considered one of Apple’s most ambitious ventures. The idea for a new direction for the company’s development arose a decade ago, slowly germinating, and in 2017, at the culmination, Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, envisioned powerful department dealing with creating autonomous vehicle systems controlled by artificial intelligence. Although the head of Apple did not directly declare that the goal of the “Titan” project was to create an e-car, a vision appeared in behind-the-scenes speculations. an elegant, futuristic vehicle with refined and perfect technology-equipped interior. In other words, it was meant to be iPhone of the EV world. Renderings of the Apple Car were circulating on the Internet, and unofficial reports indicated that the car would hit the market in 2026.
He worked closely on it a team of two thousand people – Special Projects Group (SPG), which included: hundreds of engineers and designers vehicles. Apple was also supposed to be hiring as many as 162 drivers, who tested a fleet of 68 prototype vehicles constructed by the company. Now SPG employees have been surprised by the decision to cancel the project, which was communicated to them by COO Jeff Williams and Kevin Lynch, the vice president overseeing the project. Multi-billion expendituresThe costs incurred by the company were wasted.
The fate of SPG employees is not yet known. Some of them will be transferred to projects focusing exclusively on development of generative artificial intelligenceto the department under John Giannandrea, but for many it may also mean layoffs.
What caused the failure? Despite its bold visions, the “Titan” project still struggled with problems. Concepts and management changed project, and all this while continuously disputes and rising costsh. This was also influenced by the market situation – on the one hand, the demand for electric cars was not as great as it had been announced a few years earlier, and on the other hand, Apple’s calculations showed that the car had no chance of success on the market and will not provide the expected profits.
