Apple ditches decade-long ‘Project Titan’ electric car venture as it shifts focus to generative AI
NY Post
Apple is abandoning its decade-long effort to build an electric car in favor of ramping up efforts on its generative AI projects, according to a report.
Apple announced the plans internally on Tuesday, sources told Bloomberg, rattling its nearly 2,000 staffers working on the self-driving vehicle, which was initially intended to launch sometime in 2026.
The decision was shared by Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams and Kevin Lynch, a vice president overseeing the effort, the people told Bloomberg, asking not to be identified when discussing private matters.
The two Apple executives told staffers that as the Cupertino, Calif.-based company winds down the team working on the car — known internally as the Special Projects Group, or SPG — some will be shifted to the artificial intelligence division.
These staffers will now focus on generative AI projects under executive John Giannandrea, according to Bloomberg, as Apple looks to get up to speed to rivals Microsoft, which has a $10 billion multiyear agreement with ChatGPT-maker OpenAI and Google — though the tech giant is currently in hot water over its “woke” Gemini text-to-image software.
Hundreds of others in the SPG — many of which are hardware engineers and car designers — can either apply for another job within Apple or will be laid off.
