Apple drops electric car plans while Tesla aims to ship Roadsters next year

Apple has abandoned its ambitions to produce an electric car, US media has reported, ending a struggling decade-long project.

The iPhone maker had dedicated nearly 2,000 employees to its secretive car development program, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday but faced an increasingly competitive electric vehicle (EV) sector.

The target of "Project Titan," beginning around 2014, was to develop a fully autonomous car, according to media reports.

The decision to shut down the car project was announced internally on Tuesday, Bloomberg and The New York Times reported, citing unnamed sources.

Apple had reportedly invested billions of dollars in the project.

Apple has never publicly disclosed its EV plans, despite a steady drip of media leaks over the years.

Several US automakers have hit the brakes on EVs in recent months as demand has slowed. Self-driving carmakers Cruise and Waymo - which is owned by Google parent Alphabet - have also struggled to expand their products beyond San Francisco.

Elon Musk's Tesla, one of the EV industry's leaders, has also warned of slower growth in 2024.

In a post on X, Musk responded to news of Apple shutting down its car project with emojis showing a salute and a cigarette.

'Tesla Roadster'

Apple will transfer many employees from the shuttered car division to generative artificial intelligence (AI) projects, Bloomberg reported.

Generative AI - popularised by the success of ChatGPT, from the Microsoft-backed OpenAI - makes it possible to produce text, images, sound and other output simply by submitting a request in everyday language.

Around the world, major tech companies including Google, Microsoft, Meta and Amazon are rapidly pursuing the development and deployment of AI products.

But so far, Apple has had little to say on the subject beyond using AI in photo editing.

Meanwhile, Tesla will aim to ship its Roadster electric sports car next year, the electric vehicle maker's CEO Elon Musk said on Wednesday.

"Tonight, we radically increased the design goals for the new Tesla Roadster," Musk said in a post on X, adding that the Roadster's production design will be completed and unveiled by the end of this year.

Tesla had announced the Roadster, a battery-powered four-seater, at the end of 2017, which was originally set to be launched in 2020.

Musk in 2021 had pushed the launch of the Roadster to 2023, citing global supply chain bottlenecks. In 2023, Musk said Tesla hopes to start production of its long-delayed next-generation Roadster electric sports car next year.