Apple ends its decade-long secret effort to build an electric car

Apple is pulling the plug on its secretive electric, self-driving car project, according to multiple reports. Apple worked on EVs for a decade, but never released a car.

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Apple is shutting down its decadelong secret effort to build an electric car. The company has transformed many industries, but car-making will not be one of them. So what happened? NPR tech correspondent Bobby Allyn is here to tell us. Hey, Bobby.

BOBBY ALLYN, BYLINE: Hey, Ari.

SHAPIRO: Why was Apple trying to make a car in the first place?

ALLYN: Well, as one of the most advanced tech companies in the world, Apple thought it should give it a try since electric vehicles are, you know, basically a computer on four wheels. Apple was, here, trying to give Tesla a run for its money with this Apple-branded car.

And, you know, Ari, the whole thing started 10 years ago. Back then, Apple realized it had to do more than just make iPhones to keep growing and to keep growing its profits, and so it launched a secret project. It was called Project Titan. Thousands of Apple employees were devoted to it. They, you know, were trying to build an all-electric, self-driving car. Now, Apple never publicly acknowledged the existence of this plan, but the company has, for years, been testing its car technology on public roads. And through public patents it filed, some details came to light. But, you know, given Apple’s obsession with product details – and, obviously, we know about Apple’s die-hard fan base – you know, a car from Apple really had the potential to make a big splash – keyword here, potential.

SHAPIRO: Yeah. So what happened exactly? Like, what went wrong?

ALLYN: Well, news reports, starting with Bloomberg, came out, saying Apple was moving the staff who were working on the car project to artificial intelligence teams and that the car project was being completely wound down. Some early explanation seems to be that self-driving technology was…