Apple Car Project Loses Another Key Executive: Analyst Says 2022 'Make-Or-Break' Year For EV Ambitions

Apple, Inc.'s AAPL self-driving car project, named "Project Titan" has been a non-starter due to multiple issues. The team has seen a mass exodus of executive talent, apparently reflecting uneasiness over the long overdue nature of the plan.

What Happened: Apple's Project Titan has lost another executive, with the latest to hit the exit button being Joe Bass, head of software engineering program management, Bloomberg columnist Mark Gurman said in his ‘Power On Newsletter.'

Bass' LinkedIn profile reveal that he joined Meta Platform, Inc. FB in January as Director of Technical Project Management, Mixed Reality Technologies. He was with Apple for seven years before moving on.

With Bass' departure, the entire Apple Car executive team from a year ago has departed, Gurman said. Dave Scott, Jaime Waydo, Dave Rosenthal and Benjamin Lyon all left in early 2021 followed by Doug Feld, the head of the Apple Car project, in September and Michael Schwekutsch thereafter, the tech writer noted.

Apple has also lost several engineers from the team.

The project is now headed by Kevin Lynch, and he has his work cut out for him. Apple is looking to design an EV that can be a true self-driving vehicle and not merely match the existing EV lineups of incumbents, Bloomberg reported.

Gurman sees 2022 as the "make-or-break" year for the Apple Car project. The company has internally set a target of four years for developing a self-driving car as opposed to its previous estimate for a seven-year timeframe, Bloomberg previously reported.

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Why It's Important: Analysts are optimistic about the Apple Car's success and its potential contribution to the overall business.

Loup Funds Managing Partner Gene Munster believes that Apple can find success with its self-driving car project, given it is one of the few companies that consistently delivers excellent hardware + software + services.

If Apple captures 10% of the global auto market and investors value auto revenue similar to how they currently value its revenues, the Apple Car alone could add $3 trillion to the company's current valuation, the analyst said.

Cupertino needs to iron out all the wrinkles associated with the Apple Car project, including potential partnerships, technology and team, in order for the tech giant to drive smoothly toward success with this product.

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