Apple scales back ambitions for self-driving car

Microsoft's $3tn valuation proves gap between tech giants has closed

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Apple has decided to scale back its electric vehicle plans amidst concern over sales iPhones. While plans for the car have not been shelves, a report by Bloomberg said delivers wouild be delayed until at least 2026.

Apple had been working on a fully self-driving car – dubbed Titan – since 2014. That plan has been scaled back and functionality is now limited to the so-called Level 2+ system, which requires drivers to pay attention to the road and intervene when necessary. Such a feature already exists in Tesla’s electric cars, which have an Autopilot option.

The company still hopes to develop a Level 4 system, where the car is autonomous under certain conditions. That could then be offered as an upgrade after the initial launch.

The development of a self-driving car has already had a bumpy ride. In 2021, Doug Field, who was in charge of the project, left. He did not believe the Apple board would give their approval. Meanwhile, millions of dollars were pumped into the project in salaries, soft- and hardware development, cloud storage and test circuits.

A working prototype still does not exist to this day.

Apple is well known for striking products but a commitment to developing on a vision as well as technology money is proving problematic. It’s most recent product, the Vision Pro virtual reality headset, isn’t ready for mass market and sells for $3,499 in the US .

The iPhone remains the backbone of Apple’s success but it has been relying on the Chinese market, which has already seen a 20% drop in sales in January 2024 compared to 2023. Analysts Jeffries notes flat sales Huawei of handsets represented an important gain, bouyed by the Mate 60 range.

Apple is also seen as lagging behind in AI. Microsoft is resolutely taking the lead there as it invests in ChatGPT and AI chips. It caused Apple to briefly lose the lead as the company with the highest market value for the first time in two years at more than $3 trillion.

Also, competitors such as Amazon and Alphabet (Google’s parent company) are working on electric cars. Chinese companies like the aforementioned Huawei and Xiaomi also introduced vehicles.

The race does come at the expense of Apple’s well-known visionary concept of a self-driving car without steering wheel or pedals, as was.

So instead of being and innovator, the Cupertino company is chasing the field.

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