Apple Spent 1 Billion Dollars Every Year for its Automobile Project

In 2020, Apple’s top executives, a former Chrysler He met at the facility and observed the company’s latest autonomous vehicle model. This prototype belonged to a minivan model that could seat four people comfortably. The most important feature of the vehicle, which resembled the old flower child minibuses with a completely glass roof, was that it had neither pedals nor a steering wheel. Because this tool means working with full automation. level 5 automation It would come with a device and could be controlled from a phone or something like a game controller if needed. Apple this model Bread Loaf He was giving his name.

While this vehicle was planned to take its place on the roads within five years, it was planned to decorate its interior with a giant screen and sound systems, and to adjust how “tinted” its windows looked from the outside. Four years after that day, Apple announced that it canceled this project, and $1 billion annually after spending. So why? An article written by Mark Gurman from Bloomberg reveals unknown details of Apple’s vehicle project.

Indecision brought the end

Senior executive at the event in 2020 Jeff Williams, left the company the next year and moved to Ford. Instead, it’s from Apple’s smartwatch software department. Kevin Lynch came. With the new design, a design with two doors opening upwards and a more rounded glass roof emerged. I-Beam A prototype was never produced in this project. Apple’s subsequent designs were similarly sidelined.

According to information from people close to the company Apple’s The main problem was indecision, and therefore, despite the billions of dollars paid, neither a new prototype nor the existing vehicle could be tested on the roads. Names from the industry summarize this situation: “When a lot of very smart people are given a huge budget, things are likely to go in different directions. Apple has failed to make a definitive decision on this point.” He uses the expressions.

Actually Apple While he invested heavily in software, sensors, aerodynamics and materials for this project, he could not get much feedback from either the software or the hardware he developed. This increased the sunk cost even more.

According to the information provided by people inside the company, the project being too longshowed that it had to be terminated as soon as possible. Another notable point was that the program leadership was weak. The automobile project that Tim Cook revived was doomed to failure as it could not be put on track and directed.