Apple appears to be reconsidering its strategy for implementing a self-driving car as The New York Times reports the company has laid off dozens of employees who were working on the project. The latest round of pink slips is perhaps a sign the tech giant is a bit more behind than it would like to be in creating a self-driving car.
Apple hasn’t managed to crack the self-driving car model yet , despite bringing in more people to oversee the project – code-named Titan – including Apple veteran Bob Mansfield. And the Apple brass may be feeling the heat as Google, and even Uber have announced they are ready to launch this new type of automobile. And major automobile makers have announced their plans to unveil their own within the next five years.
This first wave of research and development hasn’t been successful, so The New York Times reported the company is seeing this round of layoffs as a “reboot” to find a better strategy. The Times reported Apple first focused on designing and producing the car, but now the focus seems to be shifting to figuring out the right technology for the car. The company had pulled resources from other departments, wrangling more than 1,000 employees the past 18 months to work on the project.
But all is not doom and gloom for Apple, as The New York Times reported the company has a few fully autonomous vehicles in the testing phase but are still working out the technology kinks. It may be a few years before we see anything resembling a self-driving car. It has yet to be reported if this new car will come with a headphone jack or not.
(Via The New York Times)