Apple iCar electric vehicle project is dead, reports say

Despite a decade of planning, company cash reserves of $US162 billion and a projected price tag of about $US100,000, it seems the Apple ‘iCar’ electric vehicle won’t be happening after all.

Apple has reportedly announced internally that it will finally abandon its long-held plan to develop and build a semi-autonomous EV to take on Tesla, despite having already sunk billions into the project.

According to reports, the American tech giant will shift workers to new projects, including a pioneering generative artificial intelligence program, while laying off others.

Originally, the Apple electric car was being developed under the Project Titan banner, although Apple itself never formally acknowledged the program’s existence.

Instead, intense speculation surrounded Apple hiring engineers and designers from top car-makers including Tesla, Lamborghini, Volkswagen and even Holden to help develop near-production prototypes.

Apple also made the decision to snap up autonomous start-up Drive.ai in 2019.

Project Titan reportedly developed its first prototype as far back as 2014, but the Apple iCar’s gestation has been fraught over the past decade.

Back in 2016 there were lay-offs that signalled the program was on tenterhooks, but the Silicon Valley-based firm pushed ahead before another large restructuring took place in 2021 that saw key executives defect to other car-makers, including Ford.

According to some reports, the Apple Car was subsequently delayed until at least 2028.

Worse still for the iPhone maker, Apple had been forced internally to wind-back its expectations on the car’s autonomous driving capabilities.

Originally, there was a desire from senior execs working for the tech giant that its first-ever vehicle would be fully autonomous, sold without even a steering wheel or manual override controls.

But this proved to be untenable.

Other issues have included Apple’s reluctance to push ahead with its own dedicated vehicle architecture.

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