Apple has Reportedly Stopped Working on an Electric Vehicle
Situasi ID – Several media sources claim that Apple has given up on its ten-year initiative to develop an electric vehicle, ending what some believed may be a game-changer for the auto industry. Many workers on the initiative, internally referred to as “Project Titan,” will be transferred to the business’ artificial intelligence branch, as first reported by Bloomberg, which cited sources with knowledge of the situation to reveal the decision. Apple (AAPL) has been approached by CNN for comment.
The announcement coincides with a decline in sales of electric vehicles (EVs), which has forced several large automakers to reduce their spending and lower their pricing. Contrarily, artificial intelligence (AI) is booming, and Apple’s reportedly planned resource reallocation could help it catch up to competitors like Google and Microsoft, who have jumped ahead of the game with this game-changing technology.
As investors’ interest in all things AI grows, their enthusiasm for electric car investments is dwindling. Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at UK-based investing platform Hargreaves Lansdown, stated that the tech giant is “following a trend.”
In a letter on Wednesday, she stated, “To justify the high price points of its products, Apple must stay one step ahead in developing the tech people crave, so fully exploring the opportunities AI presents for its future ranges is essential.”
“Transformative” in the automotive sector
Although the manufacturer of the iPhone has never officially acknowledged rumors that it will produce an electric vehicle, it has made a number of moves in the last ten years that seemed to indicate it was committed to the idea.
Since at least 2014, Apple has employed executives from the automotive industry, and in April 2017, the California Department of Motor Vehicles granted the company permission to conduct tests on self-driving cars. Two years later, it bought the self-driving car startup Drive.ai. Additionally, Apple hired a former BMW executive in 2021 who oversaw the German automaker’s EV initiatives.
