Recently there was a report by an analyst who claimed that due to flagging iPhone sales, Apple might be looking to scrap its self-driving car program, also known as Project Titan. This is apparently due to lesser revenue earned from the iPhones, in which Apple would have a smaller budget to dedicate to other projects.It turns out that the analyst’s predictions were right, sort of. In a report from CNBC, Apple has confirmed that they are laying off some employees who were part of the self-driving division, and are reshuffling the others to other projects. Apple did not mention whether or not the project had been scrapped, but they do acknowledge the opportunity that self-driving cars provide.
In a statement made to CNBC, a spokesperson said, “We have an incredibly talented team working on autonomous systems and associated technologies at Apple. As the team focuses their work on several key areas for 2019, some groups are being moved to projects in other parts of the company, where they will support machine learning and other initiatives, across all of Apple.”
It was always a bit unclear as to what Apple’s intentions were for its self-driving project. It was initially rumored that Apple could actually build their own cars, but many industry veterans shot that idea down saying that it was too daunting of a task, even for Apple. It was later suggested that Apple was exploring the tech behind it where they could license it out to car manufacturers.
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