According to people familiar with the matter, Apple has finally decided to terminate its internal electric vehicle project after a decade of research and development and millions of dollars of investment. The decision caught nearly 2,000 employees involved in the project by surprise. It is reported that the decision was made jointly by the company's chief operating officer Jeff Williams (Jeff Williams) and vice president responsible for related work Kevin Lynch (Kevin Lynch).
In conveying the decision to employees, the two executives said that the electric vehicle project will be phased out in an orderly manner. A large number of employees from the team originally responsible for the project will be transferred to the artificial intelligence department, led by executive John Giannandrea. These employees will focus on the research and development of generative artificial intelligence projects, which is a core matter that Apple is increasingly focusing on.
# It is understood that the Apple car team has gathered many hardware engineers and car designers. For these employees, the company will provide opportunities for them to apply for job transfer, but it is inevitable that some employees will face the possibility of layoffs.
Related reports on the Apple car project can be traced back to 2014. In 2016, Apple CEO Cook confirmed the existence of the project and announced that it had successfully recruited hundreds of engineers from Tesla, Ford, General Motors and other automobile companies. At that time, Tesla CEO Musk firmly stated that Apple was indeed developing electric vehicles. However, to this day, this once high-profile project has not come to an end as expected.
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