Apple launched Project Titan in 2014, but the project stagnated for a decade and was finally halted earlier this week. The project cost huge sums of money for research and development and to pay thousands of Apple engineers and automotive experts. According to reports, internal employees were skeptical of the project from the beginning, jokingly calling it the “Titanic Disaster” rather than the official code name of “Project Titan.”

Although the project was approved by Apple CEO Cook, members of the automotive team knew how difficult it would be to succeed. An electric car with self-driving capabilities costs at least $100,000, and margins are slim and competition is fierce.

Apple reportedly held talks with Tesla CEO Elon Musk about acquiring Tesla, but in the end Apple believed it was more feasible to build its own cars than integrate Tesla. As early as 2014, Musk said he had “conversations” with Apple, but at the time he believed an acquisition was “almost impossible.”

According to reports, the failure to find the right leader was another important factor that led to the failure of the project. The program has gone through four leadership changes and expanded and contracted in size multiple times over the past decade. According to reports, the most fundamental reason for the project’s ultimate failure was Apple’s inability to develop the software and algorithms needed for autonomous driving.

It is reported that more than 2,000 employees involved in the project will be reassigned. Some will join other Apple teams to engage in technology research and development such as artificial intelligence, while others will be laid off. Apple will apply lessons learned from its car projects to other devices, such as AI headsets with cameras, robotic assistants and augmented reality devices.

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New reports indicate that Apple’s self-driving car program was involved in a minor traffic accident last month, and Apple has increased the size of its testing team, which now numbers more than 200 people.

According to macReports, Apple is currently testing 67 self-driving cars, which is not an increase from the last report. And the number of test drivers has increased from 196 to 201.

Attached is a comparison of Apple’s self-driving car team and other friendly companies:

Another interesting part of the data is the number of collisions each company has had with its vehicles. Since January 13, 2023, Apple has been involved in one more collision, bringing the total number of accidents to 16.

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