After a feverish hiring spree last year for what is widely seen as a race to build the first commercially available self-driving car, Apple appears to be in the process of downsizing employees. Several dozens were laid off as the company shelved some units in this super secretive initiative dubbed as Project Titan. Now, new information reveals further details to the issue.
Apple's self-driving car ambition seemed to have hit a snag when Steve Zadesky, the project's team leader, quit the company. Bob Mansfield, long-time Apple adviser, succeeded him in July and this supposedly marked the shift of focus from the development of a self-driving car to merely building components such as an autonomous driving system or software, which Tech Times previously reported.
The report was related to the information regarding Dan Dodge's recent employment by Apple. He was a prominent Blackberry talent known for his work as head of that company's automotive software division.
There is no official word from Apple about the recent downsizing developments. To put this in context, one should also remember that research for a self-driving car or the Project Titan initiative has never been publicly confirmed. Public knowledge only relies on rumors, anonymous insider accounts and the high profile hiring of engineers from other companies working on similar or related car technologies such as Tesla. The news of the layoffs itself has been reported by the New York Times, citing insider sources as the info was never part of an official statement.
The multiple employee departure does not mean, however, that Apple is completely turning back from building its own self-driving car. The company still maintains a stable of engineers working on car design, which is targeted to be released by 2020, according to Bloomberg. This includes the group of battery engineers Apple allegedly poached from A123 Systems LLC. This move is part of an initiative to tap other sources of revenue as the iPhone — the company's main cash cow — is experiencing declining demand.
Currently, Google and Tesla remain the most aggressive players in the self-driving car industry. With the recent shifts at Apple, it seems that these companies would be relieved. Some experts believe that Project Titan could outshine its competitors' technologies, which have been in development for several years. Google has already registered 1.5 million miles of self-driven tests for its prototype while Tesla already has a working autopilot system in some of its cars.
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