Apple has reportedly laid off several employees and has also shut down some elements of its self-driving car project, known as Project Titan. Although there has been no official statement from the tech giant, a source close to the company divulged these details. The company has also not publicly acknowledged that it is working on Apple Car.
Veteran Apple executive, Bob Mansfield applied these recent changes to Project Titan. He took over the project in July. Previous reports had revealed that the Apple Car project included hundreds of employees from diverse industries including software experts, automotive veterans and also autonomous-driving technology engineers.
However, if latest reports are to be believed, the Apple Car project has unfortunately hit a roadblock. News of the layoffs was first reported by The New York Times. Apple Car enthusiasts were surprised to the see the tech giant not mention the highly-anticipated car even once during the recent Apple event.
Google's parent company, Alphabet Inc, is also experimenting with self-driven cars. Apart from it Tesla, Uber and even traditional auto-makers such as BMW, Ford and General Motors are all working towards driverless cars. When Apple interest in Apple Car was made public, it sent a panic wave throughout the automobile industry.
In 2015, Apple was sued by battery-maker A123 Systems LLC for allegedly poaching high-level chemists and battery engineers to work on Apple Car's battery segment. The case was later settled without a disclosure of terms and conditions. Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk complained that Apple was trying to hire its automotive experts, writes The Wall Street Journal.
Meanwhile, a survey result was collected by Forbes revealed that people's interest in the Apple Car is pretty massive. A larger number of people are considering purchasing the self-driving car from Apple and even saving money for it. However, it seems that their desire to own an Apple Car will not materialize anytime soon.
We will keep you posted with latest Apple Car updates. Stay tuned at GameNguide.
