This new strategic direction marks a turning point for Apple, which is abandoning its ambition to build an electric car to concentrate on generative AI technology.

The project, which employed around 2,000 people, reached a critical point in recent weeks, leading to the decision to cancel production of a car that was rumored to retail at around USD 100,000. Although redundancies have not been ruled out, the majority of employees affected are expected to be reassigned to other positions within the company.

Project Titan", which had given rise to much speculation and expectation, is now closed, leaving room for increased focus on investment in AI, an area in which the Apple brand may have fallen behind other major platforms.

Apple has invested billions of dollars in R&D to develop an electric vehicle, and has undergone several team restructurings over the years. Rumors of partnerships with automakers and even industrial acquisitions had circulated, but never came to fruition.

Focus on AI

Apple's decision to focus on generative AI, a technology that creates content (text, images, sound) from natural language queries, reflects the current trend in Silicon Valley. Tech giants such as Google, Microsoft, Meta and Amazon are in fierce competition to deploy AI agents and authoring tools.

Although Apple has remained discreet about its advances in AI, with the exception of its photo editing tools, the company now seems ready to step up its efforts in this area, following in the footsteps of its competitors.

The EV, a bet now bottled up

This about-turn comes at a time when several US automakers are slowing down their investments in electric vehicles, in the face of demand that is not growing as fast as expected. European automakers are also questioning the situation, as emerging Asian companies gear up to penetrate Western markets. Even Tesla, the star of the sector, has lost 20% this year, against the market trend.

Nevertheless, Apple's decision to abandon its ambitions in the sector raises further questions for the group about its future growth trajectory: at least, the electric vehicle helped create expectations. Now it will have to refocus on virtual reality headsets and AI to keep investors dreaming.