The first time rumors about Apple wanting to produce an electric car (EV) began to be heard in 2015 under the name of Project Titan. The project faced various obstacles such as the loss of Hyundai's production partner, Sir Jony Ive leaving the company, secrets being stolen from staff and management resigning. Bloomberg this morning reported that Apple has stopped Project Titan.
Project Titan staff were given project termination notices yesterday with them to be given new tasks to develop Apple's self-generative artificial intelligence (AI) system. Apple is also believed to be removing some of the employees involved with Project Titan as it has done before.
The scope of Project Titan changed several times with the original goal being to produce a fully self-driving EV. But self-driving technology at this point is still limited to Level 3 only, causing Apple to change its target to Level 2+ self-driving while the car's launch is delayed to 2028.
Delay after delay followed with the project believed to have been restarted several times and not helped by Sir Jony Ive leaving the company and the project leader migrating to Rivian. Unlike Huawei and Xiaomi, Apple wants to develop their EVs themselves without the help of more experienced automotive companies. Xiaomi for example has started selling their first EV SU7 in just three years after the project started.