The Apple Car is dead. Where does that leave Apple's auto ambitions?

What remains of the Apple Car pipe dream? We examine the legacy of Apple's doomed Project Titan.

- BY JAN GRUBER

The ambitious Apple Car project, known internally as Project Titan, was canceled (fave.co/3ZIg6IW) last year after almost a decade of development. But that much work doesn't just vanish overnight. What's left behind? What has become of the employees brought in to work on the project, as well as the technology they've developed? Will Apple divert the resources into new avenues, or is the whole thing a total loss? In this article we look at how Apple is dealing with the aftermath of its car project, what it learned from the failure, and the impact all this is having on the company and the tech industry at large.

APPLE'S MYSTERIOUS FLEET

By January 2024, Apple had a fleet of 68 autonomous test vehicles and 162 registered drivers. Despite the cancellation of the project, Apple decided not to decommission these vehicles. According to media reports, the test vehicles remain fully registered. However, the number of drivers has been drastically reduced from 172 to 15. The permits are valid until April 30, 2025. Why is Apple holding on to its fleet? One possible explanation is that the company wants to sell intellectual property from the project, and the vehicles could serve as demonstration units to present the developed technologies to potential buyers.

Another possibility is that Apple is archiving the research data in order to use it for future developments. The remaining employees could play a central role in the orderly management of project resources.

WHY DID THE APPLE CAR FAIL?