Apple canceled its plans to launch an electric car with self-driving capabilities, a secret product that had been in the works for nearly a decade.
On Tuesday, the company told employees in an internal meeting that it had scrapped the project and that group members would be transferred to different roles, including in its artificial intelligence division, according to a person briefed on the discussion, who requested anonymity. because the announcement was not public.
As part of the restructuring, Kevin Lynch, a company executive who was involved in the car project, will report to John Giannandrea, its head of artificial intelligence strategy, the person said.
Apple declined to comment. Bloomberg previously reported that Apple was ending its car plan.
Although Apple had not introduced its car to consumers, the product had been one of Silicon Valley's worst-kept secrets for many years because it was being tested on public roads. The cancellation is a rare move by Apple, which typically does not leave aside public and high-profile projects.
The company has struggled in recent years to find new avenues for growth as its flagship iPhone has saturated the market and people upgrade their phones less frequently than before.
Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, has publicly hinted that Apple was interested in entering the automotive space. The company has also been publicly testing hundreds of vehicles equipped with autonomous driving technology for many years. The car, internally codenamed “Titan” and project 172, was a difficult product to develop, as parts of the division were closed, plans were scrapped and restarted, and dozens of workers were laid off along the way.
The car, which Apple spent billions of dollars on research, was intended as a rival to Tesla's electric vehicles, which include self-driving features.
The product was important to Cook's legacy as it would have countered the perception that Apple had lost its ability to innovate and come up with the next big thing. Under Mr. Cook's leadership, the company has introduced a small number of new hardware products, including the Apple Watch, which now leads the smartwatch market; the HomePod smart speaker, which failed; and Vision Pro, the $3,500 glasses he launched this month to rival Meta's virtual reality headsets.
The company has invested heavily in the development of new technologies. Over the past five years, it spent $113 billion on research and development.
