The Apple Car Is No More, After a Decade of Wishful Thinking

One of Apple's worst-kept secrets has come to the end of the road.

The iPhone-maker reportedly told staff on Tuesday that it plans to shelve its decade-long efforts to build an electric car, according to reports from Bloomberg and others. Some of the 2,000 employees who worked on the initiative, internally called Project Titan, will shift focus to bolstering the company's artificial intelligence efforts. Others will have opportunities to transfer to other divisions within the company, the reports said.

Apple didn't respond to a request for comment.

The move marks a sudden end to one of Apple's most high-profile secret projects, which was rumored to have ambitions of taking on electric car pioneer Tesla. Dozens of Apple's cars had been spotted around Silicon Valley for years, with arrays of seeming self-driving sensors that added to the product's mystique and anticipation.

In the decade that Apple's been working on its car, the electric transportation industry has begun to take off. More than 25% of the cars sold in Apple's home state of California were electric last year, helping to raise the profile of not just Tesla but other electric upstarts such as Rivian, Lucid and Polestar. Governments worldwide have increased investments in electric charging infrastructure too, including the White House's plan to build 500,000 EV chargers across the US.

Apple's project, though, never seemed to get into high gear. Over the years, the company reportedly shifted leadership and direction at times. In 2020, the company reportedly put its AI head John Giannandrea in charge, signaling the importance of self-driving features despite struggles by other manufacturers to safely test and roll out the technology.

Though Apple may no longer be developing an electric car, it still has plans to change the way we drive. It's been steadily upgrading the software in its CarPlay app for the iPhone, which connects with car infotainment systems to display directions, route calls and play music. 

In 2022, the tech giant unveiled plans to expand CarPlay to whole car systems, providing an Apple-like experience for everything from speedometers to seat heaters. Apple says on its website marketing the technology that the first cars compatible with this "next generation" CarPlay will arrive in 2024.