Apple Abandons Its ‘Electric Car’ Project
In a surprising turn of events, the tech giant ‘Apple’ has made an announcement on electric car project – turns out the decision is to put in on halt for now. Elon Musk in response to this said, ‘The natural state of a car company is dead. As per the reports, the tech giant has pulled the plug on its decade long project.
Employees who were involved in this project will be moved to company AI’s division but that does gives a hint as well of Lay-off’s. As per the report from Bloomberg, There is a good chance of engineers and car designers might have to go through the layoff. This project has been going on since 2014 but due to lot of leadership changes the electric car development was kind of falling short which eventually resulted in launch delays as well.
Musk back in 2015 made a statement, “It’s good that Apple is moving and investing in this direction. But cars are very complex compared to phones or smartwatches,”. Rumours as well as few speculations which surrounded surrounding Apple’s foray into the electric car market have been circulating for years now. There were reports which even suggested that the company was working on a secretive project codenamed “Titan.” This project’s idea was to develop a self-driving electric vehicle.
Unfortunately, despite years and years of research, development, and lot of investment of course Apple has ultimately made its decision to simply pull the plug on its electric car initiative. Even though the exact reasons behind the decision remain undisclosed, many other factors are likely to have contributed to Apple’s strategic move. One key challenge facing Apple in the electric car space is the highly competitive nature of the automotive industry. Companies like Tesla, General Motors, and Volkswagen are somewhere already dominating the EV market, breaking into the space would have required Apple to navigate a fiercely competitive landscape and overcome huge barriers to entry.
Moreover, when we talk about the complexity of developing an electric vehicle, especially when its loaded with autonomous driving capabilities, presents huge technical challenges. Its immense, the journey from battery technology, design to software development along with safety kept as priority and let’s not even talk about bringing the ‘end product’ to the market. It would require a lot, simply a lot that even a company of Apple’s quality & height may struggle.
In addition to that, the rapid emergency of shared mobility platforms and the growing popularity of electric scooters and bikes, the traditional model of car ownership will be undergoing a huge shift. Let’s not forget that ‘Apple’s strengths’ lies in its expertise in consumer electronics, software development, and well also with user experience design. Given the current circumstances Apple is likely to continue channelling its efforts into these areas where it can leverage these strengths is the most effective manner.
In conclusion, even though this news may have appeared as utter disappointment to some this will reflect Apple strategic choice and willingness, we would say to adapt with market dynamics. Let’s be sure of one thing, i.e. company’s commitment where they excel in pushing boundaries which will eventually make its way to success in future.