Apple's self-driving, electric car efforts still remain stalled: Report

Apple's dream of launching a self-driving, electric car still seems like a distant dream despite years of hard work as its team is plagued by setbacks as rivals get ahead in the race, the Information tech news website reported Monday. The talk around the Apple car started some eight years ago when Steve Jobs died in October 2011. Called Project Titan, it has faced various setbacks.

While testing, the self-driving Apple cars have faced trouble on streets near its Silicon Valley headquarters, bumping curbs, straying from lanes, and almost hitting a jogger legally crossing a road, the report mentioned. It added that trouble with team happened due to ever-shifting goals and leadership, staff turnover, and lack of faith in the project by high-ranking executives.

Last year, in an interview with the New York Times, Apple chief Tim Cook said that the self-driving cars are an ideal match for the technology giant. "An autonomous car is a robot and so there are a lot of things you can do with autonomy; we will see what Apple does," Cook said.

The tech giant had first revealed its self-driving tech aspirations in 2016 and since then saw autonomous driving systems as a "core technology" for the future. However, last year, the company trimmed its team devoted to self-driving car technology, yet maintained that it is still in the race.

Many major automakers and technology groups are currently developing autonomous vehicles, that are considered to be the future of the automobile, along with electric power. Last year, Google-backed self-driving firm Waymo expanded its robotaxi service to riders in San Francisco in another step toward fully autonomous ride-hailing.