Shanghai Securities News China Securities Network (Reporter Yu Liyan) According to insiders, Apple announced the cancellation of its electric vehicle project internally on Tuesday, which surprised nearly 2000 employees involved in the project. Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams and Vice President Kevin Lynch, who is responsible for this work, jointly made the relevant decision.
Two executives told employees that the project will gradually end and many employees in the automotive team will be transferred to the artificial intelligence department led by CEO John Giannandrea. These employees will focus on Artificial Intelligence Generated Content (AIGC), which is an increasingly critical priority for the company. The Apple automotive team also has hundreds of hardware engineers and automotive designers who may apply for work from other Apple teams.
Apple did not comment on the above news. Public information shows that the Apple car project began in 2014, codenamed Project Titan. In 2015, Apple CEO Tim Cook stated at a meeting of the Wall Street Journal that he hoped people could "experience iPhones in the car... all of this was to make your life outside and in the car seamless." At that time, many market participants believed that the smartphone market seemed saturated, revenue was also declining, and Apple needed a new product.
Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk shared the news on his social media that Apple had stopped making cars, accompanied by two emojis: salute and smoke.
"The gap in sales and other aspects of manufacturing new energy vehicles is getting bigger and bigger." Regarding Apple's cancellation of the electric vehicle project, Zhang Junyi, Managing Partner of Aowei Consulting, told reporters that in the mainstream market environment of the United States and Europe in 2024, pure electric vehicles are not the direction to quickly profit in the short term. So, powerful companies like Apple will also consider changing their mindset, especially in the AIGC sector, where there may be greater investment and development momentum.