Apple Cancels Electric Car Project, Chooses To Focus On Artificial Intelligence

JAKARTA After a long time struggling on an autonomous car project without significant progress, finally on Tuesday 27 February, Apple canceled work on its electric car. This comes after ten years after the iPhone maker started this ambitious project.

The company's shares rose 0.7% in day-to-day trade, after cutting some of the losses from the previous trade in the day.

Several employees working on electric car projects will be transferred to the company's artificial intelligence division, according to a Bloomberg News report that first reported the development.

"If that's true, Apple will focus more on GenAI and that should give investors more optimism about the company's efforts and its ability to compete at the platform level in the field of artificial intelligence," said Ben Bajarin, chief executive of consulting firm Creative Strategies.

Apple has so far refrained from major measures in the field of artificial intelligence, which contrasts when compared to other tech giants such as Alphabet and Microsoft, which have the first advantage of combining the breakthrough technology.

Apple itself still declined to comment on the report.

High interest rates to contain inflation have made consumer sentiment gloomy and led to a slowdown in demand for electric cars that are usually more expensive, forcing the industry to cut jobs and reduce production.

Several major automakers, including Tesla's electric car market leader, decided to withdraw investment, with some changing plans to focus on hybrid cars rather than full electric cars.

Apple started Project Titan, as it is known in its car business, ten years ago, when a wave of interest in autonomous vehicles hit Silicon Valley.

Reuters also reported in 2020 that Apple was considering releasing cars in 2024 or 2025. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the global auto industry.

Apple has sacked 190 workers from the group in 2019 after updating its software approach.

The design of the concept car has also changed, from radical autonomous vehicles without steering wheel which will be a change from traditional automotive designs to more conventional cars with advanced driver assistance features.