For the past decade, many Apple employees have been working on the company's secret car project, internally codenamed “Titan,” which includes the not-so-flattering story of the Titanic disaster. It had a name. They knew the project was likely to fail.
Throughout its existence, the auto effort was scrapped and rebooted multiple times, laying off hundreds of workers along the way. As a result of disagreements among leaders over what the Apple Car should be, it started out as an electric car to rival Tesla and morphed into a self-driving car to rival Google's Waymo.
By the time of its death, when executives announced internally that the project would be canceled and many members of the team would be reassigned to research in artificial intelligence, Apple had spent more than $10 billion on the project and the car It's back to normal. At first, it was an electric car with driver-assistance features comparable to Tesla's, according to six people involved in the project over the past decade.
The end of the car project was a sign that Apple has struggled to develop new products since Steve Jobs' death in 2011. The effort has had four different leaders and multiple rounds of layoffs. But it deteriorated and eventually fizzled, largely because developing the software and algorithms for self-driving cars proved too difficult.
Apple declined to comment.
“When it started, we were trying to line up the stars for something that only Apple could hit with a home run,” said Bryant Walker-Smith, an associate professor at the University of South Carolina School of Law and School of Engineering. He spoke so easily.” “Ten years later, the stars have recalibrated to make this a big risk rather than a big profit.”
When Apple launched its car project in 2014, there was a rush of investors, executives, engineers, and companies chasing the idea of self-driving cars. As Google began testing prototypes on public roads in California, voices across Silicon Valley grew louder that self-driving cars would soon become commonplace. Apple didn't want to be left behind.
At the time, the company was fielding questions from top engineers about its next project, according to three people familiar with the project's origins. The Apple Watch had just been completed, and many engineers were restless to start working on something new. Apple CEO Tim Cook approved the project, in part to prevent engineers from leaving for Tesla.
Apple also needed to find new ways to expand its business. The company expected iPhone sales to slow over the next few years. Automobiles are part of the $2 trillion transportation industry, which could help Apple, which was already a nearly $200 billion business at the time.
Despite receiving a vote of confidence from Apple's chief executive, team members knew they were working against harsh realities, according to six employees familiar with the project. If an Apple car were to hit the market, it would likely cost at least $100,000, but it would still generate a small profit compared to smartphones and earphones. It also comes years after Tesla dominated the market.
The company has held talks with Elon Musk about acquiring Tesla, according to two people familiar with the negotiations. But in the end, the company decided it made more sense to manufacture its own cars rather than acquire and integrate another business.
Mr. Musk did not respond to requests for comment.
From the beginning, the project was plagued by disagreements over what it should look like, people involved said. Steve Zadesky, who originally led the effort, wanted to create an electric car to compete with Tesla. Jony Ive, Apple's chief design officer, has said he wants to pursue self-driving cars, and members of the company's software team have said it's possible.
Apple, which had $155 billion in cash by then, lavishly hired hundreds of people with experience in machine learning, a type of AI technology, and other capabilities essential to building self-driving cars. did. The influx of people made this project one of the first that Apple developed with many outsiders unfamiliar with the company's culture.
By this year, the car team consisted of more than 2,000 employees, including engineers who worked for NASA and developed race cars for Porsche.
The group has developed a series of new technologies, including a windshield that can show the direction of each turn and a sunroof with a special polymer that reduces heat from the sun.
Star executives like Mr. Ive and Mac engineering director Bob Mansfield were involved to boost morale and guidance. The company has acquired several startups to join its automotive team. In 2021, Apple appointed Kevin Lynch, the head of development of the popular Apple Watch, to be in charge of the car in order to ensure the project's success.
Ive and a team of designers conceptualized a car that looked like a European minivan, like the Fiat Multipla 600, with six windows and a curved roof. It has no steering wheel and is controlled using Apple's virtual assistant Siri.
One day in the fall of 2015, Ive and Cook met at the project's headquarters in Sunnyvale, California, to demonstrate how the car would work. The two sat down on seats in a cabin-like room. Outside, a voice actor read from a script what Siri would say as the men zoomed down the road in a fictional car. Mr. Ive asked Siri which restaurant he was passing by, and the actor read out the answer, two people familiar with the demonstration said.
But by 2016, it was clear that the auto industry's efforts were in trouble. Mr. Zadesky is leaving Apple, and his successor, Mr. Mansfield, has told the team working on the project to shift its focus from building cars to developing software for self-driving cars, three people familiar with the transition said. .
Apple has received permission from the state of California to begin test driving a Lexus sport utility vehicle equipped with sensors and computers. After discussions with automakers including BMW, Nissan, and Mercedes-Benz, the company has signed a deal with Volkswagen to provide transporter vans for self-driving shuttles on Apple's campus.
Over the next few years, two more leaders took over the automotive efforts. Former Tesla executive Doug Field has laid off more than 200 employees working on the project as he focuses on building self-driving systems. Mr. Lynch, who replaced him in recent years, then scrapped the company's plans and returned to its original idea of building electric cars.
Mr. Mansfield and Mr. Field did not respond to requests for comment.
Earlier this year, Apple executives decided that working on generative AI would be a better use of the company's time than on cars, the company told employees at an internal meeting on Tuesday. The company said some members of the Project Titan team will be redeployed to work on artificial intelligence.
In interviews with The New York Times on Wednesday, people involved in the project praised the decision to end the project, saying the technology behind generative AI will be invaluable to the future of the company's most important iPhone business. He said it could become something.
Apple's scrapping project will survive because of its underlying technology. The company will take what it has learned about artificial intelligence and automation and apply it to other technologies it is researching, including AI-powered AirPods with cameras, robotic assistants and augmented reality, according to three people briefed on the project. It's planned.
Engineers working on automation software will work on artificial intelligence projects, while other engineers on the automotive team have been told they will need to apply for other roles within the company.
Cade Metz Contributed to the report.