After nearly a decade of secret development, Apple has abandoned aspirations to design and manufacture its own self-driving car, instead focusing on artificial intelligence programs.
According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who cited anonymous Apple sources, COO Jeff Williams and AI chief John Giannandrea told the approximately 2,000 people working on the self-driving car initiative known as initiative Titan of the shutdown. Many of these engineers are expected to join Apple’s artificial intelligence group.
The shift illustrates CEO Tim Cook’s key goals for AI and generative models. It was claimed last summer that Apple is building its own ChatGPT competitor, called AppleGPT.
Cook spoke with musician Dua Lipa in November about the need for “guardrails” around AI safety. Earlier last month, Apple released an AI image editing model. Competitors such as Google, Amazon, and Microsoft are also significantly investing in AI.
In the hotly contested AI field, Apple faces a daunting challenge. Software head Craig Federighi is said to have directed teams to build new AI features across products over the next year, including the advancement of Siri. That could imply further AI capabilities being announced at Apple’s developer conference in June. One tangible push is an AI coding assistant for Apple’s Xcode that is now in late testing.
The conclusion of the self-driving car project demonstrates Apple’s long-term shift to software and services over hardware. Instead of designing its own car, the business will most likely rely on agreements with automakers.
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