Apple might have squandered millions by canceling its autonomous car dubbed ‘Project Titan,’ but analysts believe that the California-based giant has made the right call as it can now pool its resources and talent freely on AI, which is supposedly the next big thing. The California-based giant has reportedly been working on its version of generative AI, which is internally referred to as ‘Apple GPT,’ and it is possible that a preview of this chatbot will be witnessed during the upcoming WWDC 2024 keynote.
Disbanding the car project allows Apple to accelerate its AI initiatives, with tons of potential in this space moving forward
An investors’ note by Wedbush that was spotted by AppleInsider discussed the positives of discontinuing ‘Project Titan.’ Sure, Apple might have missed out on an opportunity worth billions to tap into the EV market. Still, there are other areas where it can excel in, such as mixed-reality and artificial intelligence. At this time, Apple is lagging behind the generative AI race, which OpenAI is leading. The company was the first to unveil its digital assistant Siri when it launched the iPhone 5S, but it fell short regarding refinements.
With generative AI being widely adopted, Apple has the opportunity to expand greatly in this category instead of making continued investments in the EV market that is currently dominated by Tesla and will eventually have more players as several automakers make that transition. In addition to its own chatbot, Apple is said to preview iOS 18 later this year, and there are reports that the software update will ship with AI features that might help the company regain lost market share in some regions, such as China.
Apple is also said to introduce bigger microphones to the iPhone 16 series, and though the upcoming lineup has been labeled as lackluster, which will result in up to a 15 percent shipments decline for 2024, this hardware change should allow the newer models to assist in voice-related prompts that will be a part of the generative AI features set. In short, Apple is making what appear to be the correct steps to ensure that it remains competitive with other giants, and analysts predict that jumping out of the EV space should not be considered a defeat.