After working on it for about 10 years, Apple has finally pulled the plug on its ambitious Apple Car project that could have taken the tech giant to a whole new level. The idea of an Apple Car goes back to the days of Steve Jobs, when he and a former senior VP had some chats about what their dream car would look like. But it was only in 2014 that Apple started to get serious about making an electric vehicle and launched a secret project called “Titan”.
Since then, the project has been through a lot of ups and downs. In this article, we’ll take you through the major milestones and challenges of the Apple Car journey, and what the company had in mind for its design and performance.
2008 – The spark
Always ahead of the curve, some of the top executives at Apple were already brainstorming about the possibility of a self-driving Apple Car back way back in 2008. In an interview with Bloomberg, Tony Fadell, a former senior vice president at the company, said that he and Jobs had a “couple of walks” where they asked each other hypothetical questions about their ideal car.
Tony Fadell. (Image: X)
“If we were to build a car, what would we build? What would a dashboard be? And what would this be? What would seats be? How would you fuel it or power it?” he said in the interview.
Fadell also pointed out that phones and cars have a lot in common, as they both have batteries, a computer, a motor, and a mechanical structure, just like the iPhone. So it made sense for a company like Apple to venture into the car business.
Even back then Apple’s goal was to build a self-driving car. “But the hard stuff is really on the connectivity and how cars could be self-driving.” Jobs decided not to go ahead with the project, partly because the auto industry was in a bad shape in 2008 (remember the recession?).
2014 – Secret project “Titan” launched
The vision that Jobs and Fadell had discussed came back to life in 2014, when Apple launched a secret project called “Titan” to create an electric vehicle. According to a WSJ report, Apple assigned hundreds of employees to the project and started working on a design that looked like a minivan.
But the report also said that Apple was still testing the waters and could scrap the idea of an EV altogether. Yep, right from the start, Apple was not sure about the outcome. But even if the project failed, the company figured it could still use the technologies developed by the project – such as advanced batteries and in-car electronics – in its core products like the iPhone and iPad.
Apple wanted to do EVs what it did to smartphones. (Image: Paul Sakuma/AP)
But the size of the project team and the senior people involved showed that the company was serious. The report also said that Apple wanted to make a big impact on the electric vehicle market, just like it did with the smartphone with its iPhone.
2016 – First setback (already?)
The first time the Apple Car project hit a bump in the road was in 2016 when Apple decided to change gears and split it into two tracks. One track, which would be the priority, would focus on building self-driving car software. The other would take the back seat and focus on building the car itself.
According to a Bloomberg report, Apple hired Dan Dodge, the founder of QNX and one of the top experts in car software, to lead the development of the software. The plan was to license the software to car makers like Volkswagen and Ford, and to launch it by 2020.
2017 – Tim Cook acknowledges autonomous systems efforts
Until 2017, all we had were reports and leaks about Project Titan. But then, Apple CEO Tim Cook broke his silence and spoke publicly for the first time about the company’s work in autonomous vehicles. While Cook did not explicitly mention “Apple Car” nor reveal any details, he did say that self-driving cars, electric cars, and ride-sharing companies are going to shake up the auto industry. He hinted that Apple wanted to be part of this revolution, saying that the company is focusing on “autonomous systems.”
2019 – Apple acquires Drive.ai to advance development
Drive.ai was a self-driving technology company that used AI to create autonomous vehicle systems. (Image: drive.ai)
Project Titan went quiet for a while, until 2019, when Apple made a surprising move and acquired Drive.ai, a struggling startup that was about to lay off staff and shut down. The company confirmed to The Verge that it bought Drive.ai, likely hiring dozens of its engineers to work on Project Titan.
2020 – Apple targets 2024 launch
The first concrete date for the production of the Apple Car came out in 2020, when a Reuters report citing people familiar with the matter said that Apple was aiming for 2024 to produce a passenger vehicle. This vehicle could include its own breakthrough battery technology that would have a long range and be “radically” cheaper than other batteries.
2021 – Hyundai (almost) zeroed in for production
A Kia manufacturing plant. (Image: Kia)
The Reuters report above also speculated that Apple could partner with another car manufacturer to produce the Apple Car. Cut to 2021 and Hyundai’s Kia seemed like the most solid candidate for this. The deal was nearly finalised, according to a CNBC report. But not long after, Hyundai confirmed that had indeed been in talks with Apple, the deal had fallen through. The report speculated that Hyundai was worried about becoming a mere contract manufacturer for Apple, like Foxconn.
2022 – Fully autonomous plans dropped
2022 brought in another setback with Bloomberg reporting that Apple had scaled back its self-driving car plans, and had postponed the launch date to 2026. The reason? Apple realised that its vision of a fully autonomous vehicle, without a steering wheel or pedals, was not feasible with the technology of the time. Instead, Apple decided to focus on developing a Tesla-like self-driving system, that would still require human intervention and only support full autonomy on highways.
2024 – R.I.P Project Titan
After years of setbacks, Apple finally pulled the plug on its car project. On February 27, 2024, Apple announced to its 2,000 employees working on the project that it was shutting it down. Yep, the project had grown from the “several hundred” in 2014 as mentioned above to a couple of thousand employees, as Apple tried to tackle the complex and multidisciplinary challenges of building a car.
It’s been decided that the project will begin winding down and the team would be shifted to the artificial intelligence division spearheaded by executive John Giannandrea. These employees would focus on advancing generative AI instead.
While the news does come as a shocker especially considering how long Apple has been working on the project, it came as a relief to investors – apparent from the climbing shares after the news broke.
Besides the focus on generative AI, another potential reason for Apple shutting down Project Titan could be the slowing growth in EV sales in the United States. The lack of charging infrastructure has apparently pushed buyers to go for hybrid vehicles over all-electric ones in the country.
