Is Apple giving up on the self-driving car market?
Maybe not entirely, but based on the fact that Apple is laying off 190 employees in its self-driving car operations in Santa Clara and Sunnyvale, there is at least an impression that the tech giant is scaling back whatever plans its has to put an Apple car on the road.
In a notice filed with the California Employment Development Department, Apple said that it will cut 190 jobs, effective April 16. The notice didn’t disclose in which areas Apple is shedding those jobs, but various reports said Apple officials confirmed the positions are in the company’s self-driving car operations, which have been code-named Project Titan.
An Apple spokesperson didn’t immediately return a request for comment from this news organization.
Tech industry analysts were mixed regarding what Apple’s layoffs might mean for the company’s self-driving car plans.
Dan Ives, managing director of equity research at Wedbush Securities, said the layoffs are a sign of ongoing and further disruption of Apple’s self-driving car initiative, which may end up being something the company can’t crack on its own.
“Project Titan has been a headache from the beginning,” Ives said. “Apple is trying to develop technology in an area that is massively competitive and out of their domain.” He also expects Apple to eventually partner with Tesla on any long-term autonomous vehicle efforts.
However, Tim Bajarin, president of tech research firm Creative Strategies, suggested that Apple is likely refining it self-driving car mission and could still make an impact in the industry.
“Apple is now starting to determine the program’s (Project Titan’s) focus,” Bajarin said. “They still have thousands of engineers on this project and seem now to understand more about what they will finally bring to market.”
