Apple to stop work on electric vehicles - reports
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Apple will stop working on its electric cars programme, according to multiple media reports.
The news was first reported on Tuesday by Bloomberg, which said that the team working on the project would begin to wind down with many shifted to artificial intelligence.
The iPhone maker has reportedly been working on a multibillion-dollar electric car project since 2014 but there has been little public information about the move.
In a podcast interview with tech journalist Kara Swisher in 2021, Apple CEO Tim Cook said he would be "coy" about the electric vehicle (EV) work Apple was doing.
"If you sort of step back, the car, in a lot of ways, is a robot. An autonomous car is a robot. And so there's lots of things you can do with autonomy. And we'll see what Apple does.
"We investigate so many things internally. Many of them never see the light of day. I'm not saying that one will not," Cook said, according to the podcast transcript.
Wedbush analyst Dan Ives commented on social media that it was a "strategic move we loudly applaud".
He said that it was an "indirect nod to EV leader Tesla with Apple recognising that the stronghold grip on the EV market would make it very difficult for Apple to emerge" as a successful car producer.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk reacted with a salute and cigarette emoji on his social media platform X.
Euronews has contacted Apple to comment that it is stopping its electric car project but the company did not respond at the time of publication.
