After ten years of working on a self-driving car in almost secret, Apple has reportedly finally ditched the project, surprising virtually nobody.
Apple's car endeavor, called Project Titan, always seemed like a weird project for Apple. Its expertise is computers, from the Mac to the iPhone, and computer accessories, from the mouse to AirPods Pro. And yes, cars are ever-more computerized, but they are also fundamentally different in terms of safety, reliability, regulation, and sheer size. Overall, then, it might be a good thing that Apple has given up on cars and can focus on what it's good at-AI. Wait a second...
"While significant progress has been made in autonomous vehicle technology, numerous technical, regulatory, and ethical challenges remain to be addressed. Issues such as safety, liability, cybersecurity, and public acceptance pose significant hurdles to overcome," said Heim Levi, managing director of Auto Almanac in an interview with Tech Times.
Car Crash
Cars are hard, especially for Apple. Not only does it have to actually design a car that fits with the Apple way of doing things, but it also has to find somebody to make it, like Apple uses China's Foxconn and others to make the iPhone.
Then we have the whole safety part. Apple is notorious for flouting rules and doing things its own way. Unlike the computer and app industries, which have only just started to attract significant governmental attention in Europe's Digital Markets Act, the car industry is heavily regulated, and rightly so. If your cellular antenna stops working when you hold your phone wrong, or your $3,500 VR headset's screen cracks down the middle after a week, it won't kill you. But if your brakes fail if you apply them wrong, or your windscreen cracks open on the freeway, that's another story.
Unlike most Apple hardware projects, which never leak, at least not until they reach the manufacturing stage, Project Titan details have dripped out over the years. We believe that Apple wanted to make a fully autonomous car, one which might not even have needed a steering wheel (see what we mean about not wanting to follow the regulations?).
And even though self-driving cars are actually running on our roads, they're far from being ready or even safe. In 2021, Elon Musk admitted that he had exaggerated the abilities of cars to drive themselves, and today, Waymo's driverless taxis are crashing and knocking cyclists off their bikes.
All of which is to say, even if Apple could get over its corporate culture, and build a car, it doesn't look like cars will ever be autonomous enough to be deployed in cities. And that's before we even get to controlling your car with Siri.
Focus on AI
One important reason Apple may be ditching its car project is to focus on AI. According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, the cancellation of Project Titan has freed up almost 2,000 Apple employees, who will now be redeployed, largely in the company's AI efforts. Now, AI itself might be the next big thing either, but at least it is close to Apple's core competency-taking complex computer functions and making them into features that are easy for people to use.
"Over the last couple of years, it has started to feel like Apple is spread too thin at times, and while the employees working on the car won't jump over to go fix That Bug You HateTM in iOS now, I think it removes a notable distraction for the company," writes veteran tech journalist Eric Schwarz.
Apple does seem to be stretched thin, software-wise. Major iPad and iPhone software updates never come in the same year, for example. And hardware-wise, things are similarly unbalanced. For example, the iPad Pro line has remained essentially unchanged since 2018, presumably so Apple could focus on the Apple Silicon Macs that have been launched and revised in that time.
But mostly, it's just good to see a big, 2,000-employee-sized distraction removed, hopefully to the benefit of Apple's core products. Especially if it can take what it has learned from self-driving car tech and apply it to other fields. All that LiDAR sensor experience could end up in AR headsets, for example.
"Whatever progress Apple has made with 'autonomy ought to be applicable to robots, for example. Making intelligent robots feels more like something Apple should be doing than making cars," says long-time Apple blogger John Gruber.
About the author: Charlie Sorrel has been writing about technology, and its effects on society and the planet, for almost two decades. Previously, you could find him at Wired's Gadget Lab, Fast Company's CoExist, Cult of Mac, and Mac Stories. He also writes for his own site, StraightNoFilter.com, Lifewire Tech News, and iFixit.
