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Apple is globally recognised as one of the world’s premier tech companies, delivering iconic products such as the iPhone, iPod and MacBook. Over the years the Californian company has diversified from computers to music players, phones, tablets, and smartwatches – each bringing the company further prosperity and success. However, the big Apple news is that its next venture, an autonomous electric car, has been scrapped after 10 years of development and a reported $1,000,000,000 spent.
Apple is no stranger to throwing its hat into an arena it previously had no market share in with products such as the iPad becoming the byword for tablet. Project Titan has been in development for nearly 10 years and was estimated to hit the road in around 2026. This autonomous electric car features impressive new technology that would certainly have grabbed the headlines, so why has Apple cancelled its not-so-secret secret project so close to the finish line? Simple… It’s good business.
Just like James Dyson’s plans to launch an electric car after huge sums spent on research and development, ultimately the profit margins just weren’t there. Going up against established manufacturers that can easily supplement the development of new EVs with the sales of existing popular models was always going to be tricky. There’s no doubt the Apple car would have been an interesting entry to the market, and the tech would have likely put some traditional OEMs to shame, but making a loss on a project of this scale isn’t appealing, even to one of the most valuable companies in the world.
Over the years the project reportedly changed scale and scope to try and make the numbers work, going from a fully autonomous vehicle to semi-autonomous. A few years ago there were even reports of a partnership with Hyundai, but that evidently didn’t come to fruition. Project Titan will remain one of the automotive world’s great ‘what could have been’ stories.
While the Apple car’s loss is bad news for those wanting to see what the American tech giant has been up to, it’s good news for those with faith in Apple as a surefooted business.
