Behind Apple’s doomed car project: false starts and wrong turns

Over the past decade, many Apple employees working on the company’s secret car project, internally codenamed Titan, had a less flattering name for it: the Titanic disaster. They knew the project was likely to fail.

Throughout its existence, the automotive effort was scrapped and restarted several times, losing hundreds of workers along the way. Reflecting dueling views among leaders about what an Apple car should be, it started as an electric vehicle that would compete with Tesla and morphed into a self-driving car that could rival Google’s Waymo.

By the time of his death — Tuesday, when executives announced internally that the project was being halted and many members of the team were being reassigned to work on artificial intelligence — Apple had spent more than $10 billion on the project and the car had returned. According to half a dozen people who have worked on the project over the past decade, it started out as an electric vehicle with driver assistance features that rival Tesla’s.

The demise of the car project was a testament to how Apple has struggled to develop new products in the years since Steve Jobs’ death in 2011. The effort had four different leaders and led to multiple layoffs. But it persisted and ultimately failed largely because developing the software and algorithms for a car with autonomous driving functions proved too difficult.

Apple declined to comment.

“When it started, it focused the stars on something that Apple could only hit a home run with,” said Bryant Walker Smith, an associate professor at the University of South Carolina schools of law and engineering, who spoke briefly to Apple about his project in 2015. “A decade later, the stars have aligned again, meaning this is a lot of risk and not much reward.”

When Apple launched its car project in 2014, it was among a rush of investors, executives, engineers and companies chasing the idea of ​​a self-driving car. After Google began testing prototypes on public roads in California, voices in Silicon Valley urged that autonomous vehicles would soon become commonplace. Apple didn’t want to be left behind.

At the time, the company was facing questions from its top engineers about its next project, according to three people familiar with the project’s origins. The Apple Watch had just been completed and many engineers were restless about starting something new. Apple CEO Tim Cook approved the project in part to prevent an exodus of engineers to Tesla.

Apple also had to find new ways to expand its business. The company expected iPhone sales to slow in the coming years. Cars were part of a $2 trillion transportation industry that could help Apple, which by then was a nearly $200 billion company.

Despite a vote of confidence from Apple’s CEO, members of the team knew they were operating against a harsh reality, according to the six employees familiar with the project. If it ever came to market, an Apple car would likely cost at least $100,000 and still generate razor-thin profits compared to smartphones and earbuds. It would also come years after Tesla had dominated the market.

The company had some discussions with Elon Musk about acquiring Tesla, according to two people familiar with the discussions. But ultimately it decided that building its own car made more sense than buying and integrating another company.

Mr Musk did not respond to a request for comment.

From the start, the project was plagued by differing views of what it should be, the people familiar with it said. Steve Zadesky, who initially led the initiative, wanted to build an electric vehicle that competed with Tesla. Apple Chief Design Officer Jony Ive wanted to pursue a self-driving car, which members of the software team believed was possible.

Apple, which had $155 billion in cash by then, spent lavishly hiring hundreds of people with experience in machine learning, a type of AI technology and other capabilities crucial to creating a self-driving car. The influx of people made this one of the first projects Apple had developed with so many outsiders new to the company’s culture.

This year’s car team, which consisted of more than 2,000 employees, was made up of engineers who had worked for NASA and developed racing cars for Porsche.

The group developed a range of new technologies, including a windshield that could display turn-by-turn directions and a sunroof with special polymer to reduce the sun’s heat.

To boost morale and guidance, top executives like Mr. Ive and the head of Mac engineering, Bob Mansfield, got involved. The company acquired several startups to join its automotive team. To make the project successful, Apple put Kevin Lynch, the director behind the popular Apple Watch, in charge of the car in 2021.

Mr. Ive and his team of designers drew concepts for a car that would look like a European minivan, like the Fiat Multipla 600, which has half a dozen windows and a curved roof. It had no steering wheel and would be controlled with Apple’s virtual assistant, Siri.

One day, in the fall of 2015, Mr. Ive and Mr. Cook met at the project’s headquarters in Sunnyvale, California, for a demonstration of how the car might work. The two men sank into the seats of a cabin-like interior. Outside, a voice actor read from a script what Siri would say as the men drove down the road in the imaginary car. Mr. Ive asked Siri which restaurant they were passing and the actor read out an answer, two people familiar with the demonstration said.

But by 2016 it was clear that the automotive effort was in trouble. Mr. Zadesky left Apple and his successor, Mr. Mansfield, told the team working on the project that they would shift their focus from building a car to building self-driving car software, three people familiar with the shift said.

Apple has received permission from California to begin testing Lexus SUVs equipped with sensors and computers. It held talks with automakers such as BMW, Nissan and Mercedes-Benz before striking a deal with Volkswagen to supply Transporter vans for self-driving shuttles on Apple’s campus.

In the years that followed, two more leaders took over the automotive effort. Doug Field, former Tesla CEO, more than 200 employees laid off about the project while he was working on building a self-driving system. Then Mr. Lynch, who succeeded him in recent years, reversed the company’s plans and returned to the original idea of ​​creating an electric vehicle.

Mr Mansfield and Mr Field did not respond to requests for comment.

Early this year, Apple’s leadership decided that the company’s time would be better spent working on generative AI instead of the car, the company told employees in an internal meeting on Tuesday. The company said some members of the Project Titan team would be reassigned to work on artificial intelligence.

In interviews on Wednesday with The New York Times, people who worked on the project praised the decision to shutter it and said the technology behind generative AI could be invaluable to the future of the company’s all-important iPhone business.

Apple’s dead car project will be survived by the underlying technologies. The company plans to apply what it has learned about artificial intelligence and automation to other technologies it is exploring, including AI-powered AirPods with cameras, robotic assistants and augmented reality, according to three people briefed on the projects.

While the engineers working on automation software will be working on artificial intelligence projects, others in the automotive team have been told they will have to apply for various positions at the company.

Cade Metz reporting contributed.