We Hear: Apple Car Project Cuts Staff and Refocuses Strategy

It’s been a few months since Apple purportedly appointed a new leader for its autonomous car program, and now a recent report suggests that dozens of employees involved with the project have been laid off as the company attempts to refocus its efforts.

The New York Times learned of the layoffs from three unnamed sources familiar with the matter. The layoffs come a few months after Apple rehired a company veteran, Bob Mansfield, to lead the project and replace Steve Zadesky, who left the company for personal reasons. Mansfield previously led Apple engineering teams charged with a number of products including the MacBook Air and iPad.

The Times also reports that Mansfield is rebooting the project to focus on the autonomous technology, rather than the vehicle itself. The report doesn’t state if Apple is looking to partner with a legacy automaker to help build the car, but the new strategy should give the company the option to explore that route should it decide to change course again.

Previous reports suggest over 1,000 employees are dedicated to the autonomous car program, which apparently has been named Project Titan. Not surprisingly, Apple has neither confirmed nor denied the existence of Project Titan, but numerous rumors and new hires — including prominent automotive executives and engineers — indicate the company is serious about producing an autonomous car to take on efforts from Google, Uber, and a long list of established automakers. Apple initially hoped to complete Project Titan by 2019, but that target now seems unlikely as the program changes course.

Source: The New York Times

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