Well, Bloomberg did suggest they're moving the car team to generative AI, so how about this as a counter-offer. Siri stays exactly the same, but if requested she'll produce a picture with way too many fingers on every hand. 😂
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Apple Cancels Electric Car Project
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It might seem an odd decision when the entire automotive industry is moving to electric, semi-autonomous vehicles – but instead of gaining a head start in the market maybe half a decade ago, today Apple is up against everybody, not just Tesla, Lucid, Polestar, Rivian, MG et al, with every single auto maker launching new EVs seemingly on a daily basis. I wonder what finally prompted the decision?
Sunk cost fallacy...
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We’re glad that MS didn’t make cars either. 
This was always a massive distraction for them, they really shouldn't have gotten into it in the first place. Apple could have made a good car, but could they have brought anything really new that other companies don't have? They finally faced the facts.
Is it a coincidence that just today Xiaomi announced its first electric car?
Layoffs aren’t good but I doubt most of these folks will have trouble getting even better jobs elsewhere. Like for actual car companies, or companies that want to be car companies and actually sell a car.
So with that said, yay! Please focus more on core competency and less on distractions!
So with that said, yay! Please focus more on core competency and less on distractions!
Electric cars are the future whether you like it or not. They're just not part of Apple's future, apparently.
WHAT?
Huawei has cars, Xiaomi has cars (only took less than 3 years to develop), Sony probably will have cars, and Samsung will probably follow. And dare I say, those cars are really good.
It’s just not hard to produce good electric cars now in 2024. And Apple can provide a LOT with good iOS integration.
Is it just that Apple couldn’t innovate and build anything new anymore? And there are so many good electric cars Apple can copy.. ahem.. learn from and differentiate with ecosystem integration.
This is very sad
I’m slightly disappointed since they worked on it for so long but probably a good call. Focusing on generative AI is more concerning to me.
Wow. Not that it seemed this was going places, but still, very surprised.
In a nutshell, very wrong statement.
And they sure are greener than ICE cars over the lifetime…
For the record, I predicted this.
It was only a matter of finding the right moment to pull the plug so there would be minimal downside impact to their stock price. So, as everyone else is scales back on EV plans, and scaling back is considered fashionable, Apple decided to pile on the bandwagon.
It was only a matter of finding the right moment to pull the plug so there would be minimal downside impact to their stock price. So, as everyone else is scales back on EV plans, and scaling back is considered fashionable, Apple decided to pile on the bandwagon.
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Hopefully Apple is smarter than to succumb to the sunk-cost fallacy.
As a (very minor) stockholder, I approve of this decision.
Apple doesn't report on future products and never has.
That's your takeaway?
You realize that the *first* cars were actually electric. Gas-powered eventually took over because of the technology at the time, and the powerful oil industry influences. We're now suffering the consequences of that, and it's time for burning fossil fuels to become extinct. We need to evolve.
This seemed doomed from the start. Refocusing on AI (and Siri) makes a lot more sense.
That's because everytime they updated carOS:
:ducking and running from an angry mob with pitchforks and torches:
- the UI changed,
- The dash display would suffer from jelly scrolling
- the car would turn off when you got a Telugu text,
- carOS would have to index for 2 days before you got full performance again
- The car would shut down with 30% battery remaining
- the HVAC would get the temperature wrong and blow hot air
- the battery would drain too fast for whatever reason
:ducking and running from an angry mob with pitchforks and torches:
Exactly. Don’t fire Tim Cook for this. If anything, praise him for having the courage to cut their losses.
Finally. These rumors started as early as I started blogging about Apple.