iSack? Apple fired over 600 employees working on its now defunct e-car project
- Apple worked on developing an autonomous electric car for a decade before deciding to shutter plans.
Apple reportedly laid off 614 employees working on its Project Titan after the company shelved plans of developing its first-ever electric car. Project Titan was the code name assigned to an extremely closely-guarded endeavour to develop a battery-powered autonomous car on which the company is learnt to have spent $10 billion.
As per documents filed with the state of California which have been widely cited by US media outlets, Apple asked 614 employees to ship out after shutting the door on Project Titan, apparently due to a host of challenges and owing to shifting priorities. While Apple has never confirmed - not denied - working on an autonomous e-car project, it had hired several personnel from established automotive brands like Tesla, Porsche, Lamborghini and BMW.
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According to filings under the California’s Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, Apple reportedly sacked employees from as many as eight offices in Santa Clara. The role and department of these employees is not known as yet.
Project Titan: The tale of an Apple car that never was
Apple kept its Project Titan under wraps for around a decade but there were still trickling information that seeped to the surface from time to time. It is estimated that around 2,000 employees were working on Project Titan at the time when it was shuttered.
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No comment has come from Apple officials on the matter but it is widely speculated that the challenging economic situation across the world may have made the world's second-biggest company - in terms of market cap in 2024, and after Microsoft - think again.
While details were sketchy, it was rumoured that the so-called iCar would have offered cutting-edge features to set it apart from any other vehicle anywhere else - a heat-reflecting sunroof and a direction projection on the windshield were some of the speculative highlights. But it was not meant to be.