Apple sacks over 200 employees working on self-driving cars

Apple's self-driving car project which is codenamed Project Titan might be undergoing a cost-cutting procedure it seems. Unfortunately, as a part of the restructuring process, the company has laid off over 200 employees this week, reports CNBC.

The move was confirmed by an Apple spokesperson revealing that some of the employees who are working on the Project Titan have been moved to other divisions.
The spokesperson said:

"We have an incredibly talented team working on autonomous systems and associated technologies at Apple. As the team focuses their work on several key areas for 2019, some groups are being moved to projects in other parts of the company, where they will support machine learning and other initiatives, across all of Apple. We continue to believe there is a huge opportunity with autonomous systems, that Apple has unique capabilities to contribute, and that this is the most ambitious machine learning project ever."

The Cupertino-based company previously hired Tesla senior engineering VP Doug Field in August 2018 to lead the project, and it seems that the company has big plans for the division under his command.

Titan already shifted focus back in 2016 when it moved away from developing its own vehicle to develop a self-driving system that can be used for existing systems. Although the company didn't mention what "key areas" the team will focus on this year, however, the downsizing could mean that Apple is scaling back its efforts again.