TC Microchips Apple Pulls Plug On Autonomous Electric Vehicles

The world’s most valuable company, Apple, is winding down its long-running effort to develop an electric car with autonomous capabilities, marking a significant shift for the tech giant after nearly a decade of investment in the secretive project.

Just two weeks ago, the company was testing one of its 67 autonomous vehicles on a highway in Sunnyvale, California, according to the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). However, on Tuesday, Apple executives informed employees that the company has decided to scrap the project and reallocate the team to focus on generative artificial intelligence.

Apple declined to comment on the decision which has come as a shock to the nearly 2,000 employees working on the project, internally known as "Project Titan."

Despite increased testing over the past year, Apple's self-driving car efforts trailed progress made by industry leaders. The company’s vehicles, according to DMV records, were still being tested with a human driver prepared to take control at any moment. In stark contrast, Alphabet's Waymo has been offering fully driverless rides to customers in cities like San Francisco and Phoenix for months.

“To be honest, given Apple’s influence on consumer technology, we like many industry watchers had previously viewed Apple’s expanded testing in California as a sign of confidence in the future of autonomous driving,” explained Luis Fernández, TC Microchips’s Chief Executive Officer.

The decision to wind down the project could bring an end to years of speculation about Apple's ambitions in the autonomous car space, which have undergone several shifts and delays over the years.

Apple had tripled its autonomous vehicle testing in California between December 2022 and November 2023, logging more than 450,000 miles — a significant jump from the previous year. Public records showed the company was actively testing throughout 2023, including an incident in January when one of its cars was involved in a close call with road debris in Castro Valley. Earlier this month, another test vehicle encountered a piece of metal on a Sunnyvale highway.

Apple originally aimed to build a fully self-driving vehicle but eventually scaled back its ambitions, focusing instead on developing advanced driver-assistance features similar to those seen in Tesla vehicles.

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