Apple has halted its ambitious electric car project, a move that has taken insiders by surprise, according to sources familiar with the situation, reports Mark Gurman at Bloomberg. Who had the cancellation of the Apple Car on their Tuesday bingo card?
The project’s discontinuation was communicated internally on Tuesday by Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams and Vice President Kevin Lynch, who have been leading the initiative, says sources. This decision marks the end of a significant project by Apple as it tried to enter the car industry.
The project, known internally as the Special Projects Group (SPG), involved nearly 2,000 employees who are now facing a shift in their roles. Williams and Lynch informed the team that efforts would gradually cease, with a considerable number of the SPG team being redirected to focus on generative AI projects under the guidance of executive John Giannandrea.
While the fate of several hundred hardware engineers and car designers within the SPG remains uncertain, opportunities for reassignment within other Apple teams may emerge. However, the potential for layoffs looms, with specific details yet to be clarified.
This abrupt halt brings to a close a project that began around 2014, which had aimed to produce a fully autonomous electric vehicle featuring a limousine-like interior and voice-guided navigation. The idea was grand but it looks like Apple realized building a car is much more difficult than an iPhone.
Over the years, the initiative saw multiple changes in leadership and strategy, facing challenges that ultimately led to its termination. The recent decision by Apple’s senior executives follows a period of reassessment, coming in the wake of reports that the project had reached a critical juncture of whether to continue or stop.
The so called Apple Car was pegged to be priced at around $100,000 USD, but executives were concerned about the company’s margins on this electric vehicle. The board was also hesitant to keep plunging hundreds of millions of dollars per year into the EV that was far from completion.
