Apple has scaled back ambitious self-driving plans for its future electric car and pushed back the car’s target launch date to 2026, Bloomberg News reported Tuesday, citing people with knowledge of the matter. Shares of the iPhone maker fell 2.4% after the report.
The company’s automotive efforts, known as Project Titan, have progressed unevenly since 2014 when it first began designing a car from scratch. Apple, led by Tim Cook, is now planning a less ambitious design that would include a steering wheel and pedals and support fully autonomous capabilities only on highways, the people told Bloomberg.
The report adds that the company plans to develop a vehicle that allows drivers to perform other tasks on a freeway while being alerted with enough time to switch to manual control.
Last year, a Bloomberg report said Apple was pushing to launch its electric car as early as 2025 and refocus the project around fully self-driving capabilities.
The car project, known internally at the company as Titan, has been stalled for the past few months as Apple executives grappled with the reality that its vision for a fully autonomous car without a steering wheel or pedals isn’t currently possible. Technology.
In a significant change to the project, the company is now planning a less ambitious design that would include a steering wheel and pedals and support fully autonomous capabilities only on the highway, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the information is private.
Apple had expected each car to sell for more than $120,000, but the company is now aiming to offer cars to consumers for less than $100,000, according to the people.
