Apple pulls 200 people from self-driving car project

Apple took 200 people off the project this week to create software for self-driving cars. The manufacturer has confirmed this after reporting from CNBC. Some of those people have been fired, others are moving on to a different place within Apple.

Apple confirms the move to CNBC. “As the team focuses on several key areas in 2019, we are moving some teams to projects elsewhere in the company where they will support machine learning and other initiatives within Apple,” a spokesperson said.

According to sources from the American TV channel, the change comes because the department has a new boss. Doug Field joined from Tesla six months ago to lead the development of software for self-driving cars at Apple, also known as Project Titan. It is unknown how many people in total are working on the project.

In recent years, information has been released about the Apple project several times. A year and a half ago, CEO Tim Cook said that Apple is indeed working on software for self-driving cars. It seems that the American electronics maker is not making a car itself. According to the Apple CEO, creating systems for autonomous cars is one of the biggest challenges when it comes to artificial intelligence. He speaks of ‘the mother of all AI projects’.