- Apple Abandons Its Electric Car Project
According to the Bloomberg website, Apple is pulling the plug on the development of its electric vehicle, a project the company launched 10 years ago. It was by far one of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken by the technology giant.
The announcement was made internally on Tuesday, much to the surprise of the 2,000 or so employees working on the project, according to sources close to the matter, who asked that their identities be kept secret.
Project managers Jeff Williams and Kevin Lynch reportedly broke the news to employees.
Many of those assigned to the program will be transferred to the Artificial Intelligence (AI) division, headed by John Giannandrea. These employees will focus on generative AI projects, an increasingly important priority within the company.
As for the engineers and designers who worked on the car, they may remain on Apple's payroll, but we're guessing that some may turn to other manufacturers.
Apple declined to comment on the news.
The decision came as a relief to some investors, who limited the stock's decline on Tuesday. Shares rose about 0.5 percent to $182.01 at 2:18 p.m. in New York after Bloomberg reported the news.
Billions have been invested in the development of the car since 2014.
Basically, the complexity of the project means that we've recently reached a critical point, the kind of stage where it's necessary to ask whether it's worth continuing. Clearly, Apple decided that enough was enough, and the decision was made.