Chinese car manufacturers want to join the global competition for developing self-driving cars but are banned from road testing in public. (Photo : Getty Images)
Apple is reportedly resetting their "Project Titan" self-driving car program as they laid off several dozens of employees supposedly working on the not-so-secret project.
Google, Ford and even Tesla have taken huge strides in their self-driving car projects. Apple has not yet confirmed the existence of their own self-driving car but countless media reports and evidences have been presented over the past few years.
In fact, the Cupertino-based tech giant even reportedly hired several engineers from popular automotive companies to fit in their Project Titan team of employees. Now, Apple could be laying off some of the said employees in an attempt to refresh the project for the autonomous vehicle.
Three people who were briefed regarding the decision have anonymously leaked that Apple is trying to "reboot" Project Titan with no reasons presented whatsoever, TechSpot has learned. There are even several parts of the project that have been reportedly closed.
One possible reason is because the self-driving car project may have become too costly for Apple. The team might have failed to achieve several objectives crucial to the project such as test results or key designs that could be unfinished yet.
Apple CEO Tim Cook has already tried to trim the expectations of the public regarding the self-driving car even though there were some hints in the past, Fortune reported. Earlier reports also suggest that the project is now being shifted into making an autonomous navigation software instead of a self-driving car itself.
The company could have realized that a self-driving car from them might not actually sell a lot considering that they have no experience in making cars. They do have experience in the automotive industry through the Apple CarPlay software that acts as a replacement for in-car entertainment but that seems to be as far as they have got.
Apple might not be announcing a self-driving car project soon and they could just shift to making an improved version of CarPlay or an entirely new car software. The laid off employees have not been named as well as the persons who reported the decision from the Cupertino-based tech giant.
