Apple Puts Brakes on EV Plans to Focus on Gen AI

Apple reportedly is closing down its decade-old electric vehicle project and pivoting to generative AI, signaling the importance of this emerging technology for the times.

According to Bloomberg, Apple COO Jeff Williams and the head of the EV project, Kevin Lynch, shared the news internally and surprised the roughly 2,000 staff working on the product. Many of these employees will move to the AI division to focus on generative AI but there also will be an undetermined number of layoffs.

Meta also seemingly pivoted to generative AI, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg saying the company's AI goal was to reach AGI.

Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk saluted Apple’s efforts with two emojis, as if saying, 'Nice try but no cigar.'

Apple’s EV project, internally nicknamed Project Titan, would have been the company’s most ambitious project to date, costing it hundreds of millions of dollars in development every year. Apple's goal was to develop a self-driving electric vehicle “with a limousine-like interior and voice-guided navigation,” according to Bloomberg.

Apple had envisioned a $100,000 price tag for the vehicle.

However, the project struggled and saw its share of management shuffles. Moreover, solving the challenge of making self-driving cars safe is tough and the electric vehicle market also has been cooling of late.

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