Apple’s long-rumored driverless car project, also known as Project Titan, has been shuttered. But the company didn’t announce its cancellation. In fact, Apple barely ever mentioned the secretive project despite laboring on it for nearly a decade.
Technology
Crash of the Titan: a short history of Apple’s doomed car project
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25310003/STK260_APPLE_CAR_CVirginia_A.jpg?ssl=1 "Crash of the Titan: a short history of Apple’s doomed car project")
Project Titan was obvious from the outside — from automotive industry hiring to heavily documented, public testing of self-driving cars, there was no way it could stay a secret. But the company still tried to preserve the mystery — when CEO Tim Cook was asked about the project on an investor call in 2016, he responded with cryptic talk about how exciting Christmas Eve is, adding that “it’s going to be Christmas Eve for a while.”
Now we know Cook’s Christmas never came. This week, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman broke the news that Apple will not be making a car, dashing the hopes of any Apple fan who dreamed of cruising around in a Jony Ive-designed roadster. But Apple’s car considerations go back a bit farther than 2014, the year early reports pegged the company’s first real moves to spin up Project Titan. A little over eight years ago, Nest founder Tony Fadell revealed that, while he was still at Apple, he and Steve Jobs had tossed around the idea for an Apple Car in 2008.
They agreed that, as cool as they thought that would be, Apple was just too busy. The company had only just released the iPhone — the iPad, Apple’s services business explosion, and Siri were still ahead of it.
But six years after Fadell and Jobs’ idle conversations, things were different. The company itself was the most valuable in the world, and its products were selling like hotcakes. Apple was full of momentum and growing fatter with cash every day, but there was no guarantee that its devices would keep the company expanding with their upward sales trajectory.
Looking down the line, Apple already had its hands, quite successfully, in so many pies — computers, phones, audio players, for instance, and it was preparing to launch its smartwatch and line of Bluetooth headphones. If it was going to light the world on fire again, it needed to go big with something — why, then, shouldn’t it make a car?
So began a nearly 10-year slog of sky-high expectations that even the world’s richest company couldn’t hope to meet. Apple has done a lot to push consumer electronics forward over the years. But nobody can do everything, and the Apple Car is as fine a cautionary tale about that as any.
The Apple Car project starts up
February 2015: The rumor mill starts cranking in earnest after a self-driving Dodge Caravan with chunky sensors adorning the roof is spotted driving around California’s San Francisco Bay Area. A CBS News story at the time finds it’s leased to Apple, which has no testing permit for driverless cars. Nevertheless, it sparks speculation that the company is making an autonomous car.
Within days, reports emerge that Apple has been heavily recruiting auto experts for what it calls “Project Titan,” a secret effort to make an all-electric self-driving car. Cook reportedly approved the plan a year prior, and the company has set a team of 1,000 people on it, led by former Ford engineer Steve Zadesky. Apple hopes to start selling the car in 2020.
But can Apple actually pull this off? Former GM CEO Dan Akerson is maybe a touch skeptical. He tells Bloomberg, “We take steel, raw steel, and turn it into a car. They have no idea what they’re getting into if they get into that.”
July 2015: Reports said that Cook visited BMW’s headquarters in 2014. He and other executives wanted to learn about how the company makes its cars, and were reportedly keenly interested in the i3, BMW’s tiny electric hatchback. It’s the first rumbling of potential partnerships between Apple and an automaker, but the Reuters report on the meetings suggests that their talks have already faded.
September 2015: The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple expects to ship its car in 2019, and has tripled the original 600-person team. This same month, the California DMV confirms that it recently met with Apple to go over the DMV’s autonomous vehicle regulations.
October 2015: Sources from Mission Motors, an electric motorcycle startup, claim the company was bankrupted by Apple’s aggressive poaching.
Fall of 2015: Cook and Jony Ive meet at the project’s headquarters in Sunnyvale for an odd demo of what riding in a Siri-powered car could be like. According to the New York Times:
The two men sank into the seats of a cabinlike interior. Outside, a voice actor read from a script of what Siri would say as the men zoomed down the road in the imaginary car. Mr. Ive asked Siri what restaurant they passed and the actor read an answer, said two people familiar with the demonstration.
Funny sounds under the hood
January 2016: Reports show that Apple, or at least a registrant claiming to be Apple, bought apple.cars and other, similarly automotive-themed domain names. But the first signs of trouble also appear as Zadesky departs Apple, leaving his post as head of the car project vacant.
April 2016: German outlet Handelsblatt reports that BMW / Daimler has given up on talks with Apple because Apple wants the platform to be built “into its own cloud software,” which apparently doesn’t sit well with BMW’s future strategy for customer data protection.
July 2016: Zadesky’s vacancy is filled by Bob Mansfield, Apple’s former hardware engineering boss, who had left the company’s executive team in 2013 but stayed on for special projects. At the same time, reports say the car is delayed to 2021, and that Mansfield has hired a former BlackBerry automotive software executive to focus on autonomous driving. Bloomberg reports that internally, employees are confused about Project Titan’s direction.
September 2016: Apple reportedly fires “dozens of employees” as it reconsiders its approach to the car project. Later that month, rumors circulate that Apple is thinking about buying British supercar company McLaren and self-balancing motorcycle startup Lit Motors. Neither ever happens.
October 2016: Apple has reportedly parked its plans to build its own car and will focus on creating self-driving software for other companies to use in their vehicles. Even so, Cook tosses a morsel to investors during an earnings call, saying that cars are “an area that it’s clear that there are a lot of technologies that will either become available or will be able to revolutionize the car experience.”
If Apple can’t make the car, maybe it can drive it?
April 2017: The California DMV gives Apple a permit to test-drive three 2015 Lexus RX 450h SUVs outfitted with autonomous driving tech. One of these cars is seen driving around Silicon Valley.
June 2017: Cook tells a Bloomberg interviewer that Apple is “focusing on autonomous systems,” calling it “the mother of all AI projects.” He repeats the same thing — almost verbatim — during an investor call in August 2017, but suggests it is about more than cars.
October 2017: The Apple Lexus SUV is spotted again, this time with its collection of sensors encased in white plastic, rather than the makeshift rig from the April sighting.
May 2018: Apple reportedly partners with Volkswagen to use its T6 Transporter vans as self-driving shuttles to cart around Apple employees, representing something of a back-to-basics approach. Apple has more autonomous test vehicles registered in California than Uber and Waymo combined, for the moment.
July 2018: Apple employee Xiaolang Zhang is arrested and accused of stealing the company’s trade secrets to bring back to a Chinese automotive company called XMotors. At the same time, The Washington Post reports that the company has 5,000 employees working on its car project either directly or indirectly.
August 2018: Someone rear-ends an Apple autonomous test vehicle that is trying to merge onto an expressway. The same month, Apple hires Doug Field, who’d previously left for Tesla in 2013, to help lead Project Titan.
January 2019: Project Titan shrinks as Apple shuffles 200 of its workers to “support machine learning and other initiatives” elsewhere in the company. Also, another Apple employee is arrested for allegedly stealing trade secrets.
June 2019: Apple buys autonomous driving startup Drive.ai, a company that was founded four years earlier by Stanford University researchers and that ran a small self-driving shuttle service in Texas. The move is seen as an instance of “acqui-hiring” to gain access to the startup’s small team of AV engineers.
November 2019: Jony Ive leaves Apple. While he may not have been fully hands-on with the Apple Car project, he did reportedly give lots of input, including that the car shouldn’t have a steering wheel.
February 2020: Data shows that Apple had logged fewer autonomous testing miles in 2019 than 2018 — by over 70,000 miles, in fact. Which isn’t great, since it put down 79,745 miles in 2018.
Then again, maybe Apple can make a car
December 2020: Apple reportedly shifts oversight of its car project to John Giannandrea, who’s been heading up Siri and artificial intelligence for the company since 2018. The same month, reports suggest that Apple is, once again, considering building its own car.
February 2021: But it’s hard for Apple to make friends. Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo corroborates other rumors suggesting that the company is working with Hyundai on an electric car. Later that month, Hyundai and Kia downplay the rumor, saying that they are no longer in talks to do so. Nissan also issues a statement, saying it isn’t discussing a car project with Apple.
September 2021: Field leaves Apple to work for Ford. Two days later, the company reportedly puts Apple Watch executive Kevin Lynch in charge of its car ambitions, under COO Jeff Williams rather than Giannandrea.
October 2021: Foxconn shows off three electric car prototypes under the brand “Foxtron.” Although the company isn’t planning to build cars itself, it’s interesting that the company most responsible for assembling Apple’s iPhones has been apparently developing an EV platform to sell to automakers.
November 2021: Apple hires another former Tesla employee, Christopher Moore, to work on self-driving software for the company.
June 2022: Some of Apple’s work bears fruit at WWDC 2022 when it debuts the next-gen version of Apple CarPlay, designed to take over the entire dash of a car. The company also announces several partners, including Ford, Audi, Jaguar-Land Rover, and Nissan. (To date, it isn’t in any cars.)
July 2022: The struggles of Project Titan are laid out in a report from The Information that claims Apple software boss Craig Federighi was “particularly skeptical” of it, and that employees outside of the project regularly mocked it. The report also said that a test vehicle nearly hit a jogger earlier in 2022.
The Information details some design possibilities for the car as well, including that the company sought the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s blessing to create a car that had no traditional steering wheel or brake pedal, and that Ive had advised the design team to “lean into the weirdness of the vehicle’s design and not try to hide its sensors.”
October 2022: Foxconn again unveils EV prototypes, this time a crossover and a pickup truck. This time, the company says it wants to become a Tesla supplier.
Easing off the gas pedal
December 2022: Apple yet again scales back its plans for the car to have less ambitious self-driving capabilities than it originally planned. Also, the company is apparently targeting a sub-$100,000 price tag for the vehicle and has now moved its launch plans back to 2026.
December 2023: After a slow year in Apple Car news, Apple announces that Porsche and Aston Martin would incorporate bespoke versions of the dashboard-wide next-gen CarPlay infotainment system.
January 2024: Project Titan suffers two heavy blows as Apple reportedly pushes the car’s launch back two more years to 2028. Shortly thereafter, hardware executive DJ Novotney, who was ostensibly instrumental in starting Titan, leaves to work for Rivian.
February 2024: Signs of life! The California DMV records show that Apple logged nearly half a million miles of autonomous driving throughout most of 2023 — significantly more than the year before
But that was 2023. On February 27th, 2024, Bloomberg reports that the Apple Car is, after 10 years and billions spent, not to be. Rest in peace, little buddy.
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Microsoft’s Office 2019 apps for Mac will stop working next month, because the company isn’t renewing a certificate that validates Office licenses. Owners of Office 2019 for Mac are being warned they’ll have to purchase Office 2024 or a Microsoft 365 subscription if they want to continue editing documents.
Microsoft previously promised that “all your Office 2019 apps will continue to function,” when it announced end of support in 2023. The company then quietly updated that support note last month to remove the mention of apps continuing to function, replacing it with “Rest assured that all your Office 2019 apps won’t lose any data.”
Starting on July 13th, Office 2019 for Mac and Office 2021 for Mac will both run in “reduced functionality mode,” allowing people to open files but not edit, save, or create new documents. The reduced functionality will impact Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote.
While Microsoft is providing a certificate update for Office 2021 as it’s still supported until October 13th, 2026, the company is leaving Office 2019 for Mac users out in the cold as support for these apps ended a few years ago. “Office 2019 for Mac reached end of support on October 10, 2023, and no longer receives updates,” says Microsoft. “Because Office 2019 cannot be updated to the required version, this issue cannot be resolved by updating or reinstalling Office 2019 for Mac.”
JimmyTech points out that old versions of Microsoft 365 apps on Mac and iOS will also be affected by this certificate issue, but a simple update will fix it for those users.
Microsoft regularly ends support of software and there’s always the risk you could run into issues running older apps or versions of Windows. It’s still surprising to not see Microsoft make an exception here though, particularly because this certificate issue breaks the main functionality of an app you’ve paid a one-time license fee for.
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You know that little moment when your phone rings and the name on the screen makes you drop everything?
Maybe it says your spouse, your daughter, your boss or your best friend. You answer because you trust the name. Then the voice sounds familiar too.
That is exactly what makes the latest phone scams so dangerous.
Android’s fake call detection can warn you when a caller may be pretending to be someone saved in your contacts. (Silas Stein/Picture Alliance)
Scammers no longer have to call from a strange number. They can spoof a trusted contact’s phone number. Then they can use AI voice tools to sound like someone you know. Android is now rolling out a new feature called fake call detection to help warn you when that familiar call may be a fake.
FAKE AGENT PHONE SCAMS ARE SPREADING FAST ACROSS THE US
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- Your phone holds your email, passwords, photos, banking apps and personal data. In this free, live online class, Kurt the CyberGuy will walk you step by step through simple phone security fixes you can do in real time. You’ll learn how to improve your privacy settings, spot the latest phone scams, use trusted security tools and walk away with a simple checklist to stay protected. Register here: CyberGuyLive.com
What is Android fake call detection?
Android fake call detection is a new protection built into Phone by Google. It is designed to spot suspected spoofed calls when both people on the call use Phone by Google.
Think of it as your phone quietly asking, “Is this call really coming from that person’s device?” If the answer looks suspicious, your phone can show a warning and advise you to hang up. That small alert could stop a scam before fear, panic or confusion takes over.
ANDROID SECURITY UPGRADES OUTSMART SCAMS AND PROTECT YOUR PRIVACY
How Android fake call detection works
The feature works automatically in the background. You do not need to answer a quiz, scan a code or press a button during the call. When a trusted contact calls you, their phone sends a silent confirmation signal to your phone. That signal helps prove the call really came from their device.
If a scammer spoofs your contact’s number, that confirmation signal may be missing. Your phone then checks with your contact’s actual device. If the real device says it is not placing a call, your screen can warn you that the call may be fake.
The system uses end-to-end encrypted RCS technology, so the check happens privately. You can also turn the feature off in Phone by Google settings.
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Why fake calls are getting harder to spot
For years, caller ID gave people a sense of control. If the name looked familiar, most of us felt safer picking up. That old habit now works in the scammer’s favor.
Scammers can use internet-based calling tools to spoof numbers. That means your phone may display the name of someone you trust, even though the call comes from somewhere else.
Then comes the AI voice trick. With today’s audio tools, scammers can make a fake voice sound shockingly real. They may pretend to be a family member in trouble, a bank employee warning about fraud or a manager asking for urgent help.
SCAMMERS EXPLOITED MOM’S FEARS TO STEAL HER ENTIRE LIFE’S SAVINGS
That combination makes the call feel personal and immediate. It also makes you more likely to act before you think.
Why Android is adding this protection now
Impersonation scams have become a major global problem. INTERPOL’s March 2026 Global Financial Fraud Threat Assessment cited impersonation fraud as one of the leading contributors to more than $400 billion in global losses.
In the U.S., impersonation scams remain one of the top fraud categories reported to the FTC. Losses reached $2.95 billion in 2024.
GLOBAL SCAM CRACKDOWN LEADS TO 276 ARRESTS
Those numbers tell you why this feature deserves attention. Scammers go where the money is. Right now, they know trusted voices and trusted names can open the door.
Which Android phones get fake call detection?
Google says fake call detection is rolling out globally in Phone by Google this month, starting with Pixel devices.
The feature is available on Android 12 and newer devices with Phone by Google, Contacts and Google Messages installed. It also requires RCS capability in Google Messages.
SAMSUNG MESSAGES ENDING? WHAT ANDROID OWNERS MUST KNOW
There is one key limitation. Both you and the person calling you must use Phone by Google for fake call detection to work.
Phone by Google already comes as the default phone app on many Android devices. If your phone uses a different calling app, you can install Phone by Google from the Play Store and set it as your default phone app.
How Android fake call detection protects you
This feature gives you an extra warning at the exact moment you need it most. That timing is important. Scam calls often rely on emotion. The caller may say someone got arrested, a loved one had an accident or a bank account faces an urgent threat.
SSA IMPERSONATION SCAMS ARE GETTING MORE PERSONAL
When the voice sounds familiar, your guard drops. A warning on your screen can interrupt that emotional rush. It gives you a reason to stop, hang up and verify the story another way.
What Android fake call detection cannot do
This new tool helps, but it cannot protect you from every scam. It may not work if the other person does not use Phone by Google. It also may not cover calls from businesses, unknown numbers or contacts using unsupported devices. So you still need basic scam rules.
If someone asks for money, gift cards, crypto, account codes or remote access to your device, hang up. Then call the person or company back using a number you already trust.
Also, never stay on the line just because the caller tells you to. That is one of the oldest pressure tactics in the scammer playbook.
A spoofed call can look familiar on your screen, even when it is really coming from a scammer. (Kurt CyberGuy Knutsson)
How to protect yourself from AI voice scams
AI voice scams work because they sound personal, urgent and believable, so your best defense is to slow the conversation down before you act.
1) Create a family safe word
Pick a simple word or phrase that only your close family knows. It should be easy to remember but hard for a scammer to guess. Then, if someone calls with an emergency and asks for money, ask for the safe word. If they cannot give it, hang up and verify the story another way.
9 WAYS SCAMMERS CAN USE YOUR PHONE NUMBER TO TRY TO TRICK YOU
2) Pause when the call feels urgent
Scammers want you scared because fear makes people act fast. That is why fake emergency calls often sound intense, emotional and rushed. Take a breath before you do anything. A real loved one, bank or employer will let you verify what is happening.
3) Call back using a trusted number
If a call feels suspicious, hang up. Then call the person back using a number saved in your contacts or one you know is real. Do not use a number, link or instruction the caller gives you. That could send you right back to the scammer.
4) Never send money or codes during the call
Do not send gift cards, crypto, wire transfers or payment app transfers because a caller sounds convincing. Also, never share a one-time passcode, PIN or account login code over the phone. Once scammers get that information, they can move fast.
5) Turn on scam protections on your phone
Use the built-in protections already available on your device. Pixel and Samsung users can enable Scam Detection in the Phone by Google app to help flag suspicious calls. Also, consider using strong antivirus software that includes AI-powered scam protection to help detect scams in texts, online content and deepfake videos. Keep an eye on call warnings too. If your phone tells you something looks risky, treat that alert seriously. Get my picks for the best 2026 antivirus protection winners for your Windows, Mac, Android & iOS devices at Cyberguy.com
6) Keep your phone apps updated
Update Phone by Google, Google Contacts and Google Messages when updates are available. These tools work best when your apps and phone software stay current. Updates often include security improvements, bug fixes and new scam protections.
Here’s how to check for updates on Android:
- Open the Google Play Store app.
- Tap your profile icon in the top right corner.
- Tap Manage apps & device.
- Under Updates available, tap See details.
- Look for Phone by Google, Google Contacts and Google Messages.
- Tap Update next to each app, or tap Update all.
You can also turn on automatic app updates by opening the Google Play Store app, tapping your profile icon, then going to Settings > Network preferences > Auto-update apps. From there, choose whether to update apps over Wi-Fi, over Wi-Fi or mobile data, with limited mobile data or not at all.
Kurt’s key takeaways
If a call feels urgent or suspicious, pause before you respond and verify it another way. (Tristan Spinski/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Android’s fake call detection is a smart step in the fight against AI-powered phone scams. It recognizes something many people already know: the name on your caller ID no longer proves the person calling you is real. This feature gives Android users another layer of protection when scammers try to hijack trust. Still, the safest move remains simple. Slow down, verify the call and never let panic make the decision for you.
Should the government do more to stop scammers from using AI voices to impersonate the people you trust? Let us know by writing to us at CyberGuy.com
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Congress narrowly voted to fund President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda, giving the Department of Homeland Security $70 billion over the next three years.
The house voted 214 to 212 in favor of the reconciliation bill Tuesday, following the Senate’s 52-47 vote last Friday morning. The vote fell largely along party lines. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) was the only Senate Republican to vote against it. Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI), initially voted against the bill — meaning it would have failed — but changed his vote after huddling with House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) and Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-OK), according to The Hill. No Democrats voted in favor of the funding bill, which was done through a budget reconciliation process to avoid a Democratic filibuster.
In a speech on the House floor ahead of the Tuesday vote, Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA) criticized Republicans for using the budget reconciliation process to avoid negotiating with Democrats, and emphasized ICE’s lack of popularity with the American people.
“At its core, this Republican reconciliation budget bill is a statement about priorities, and the priorities represented in this budget bill could not be more out of step with the needs and values of the American people,” Scanlon said.
Scanlon noted that DHS has yet to spend $100 billion of the nearly $200 billion it received under Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act. She added that Trump has not only expanded ICE’s reach by increasingly going after legal immigrants but also weaponized DHS against its critics. The bill, she said, will “supercharge” Trump’s abuses.
After the House markup last Friday, Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee, noted that the bill not only lacks sufficient reforms but also cuts funding for cybersecurity and TSA, whose workers went weeks without pay during the DHS shutdown.
The funding bill comes at a time of deep unpopularity for ICE. One recent poll found that just 33 percent of voters approve of how the agency is doing its job.
And it comes amid yet another threat from border czar Tom Homan to flood New York City with ICE agents. In an interview with Fox News on Monday, Homan said he would send “more ICE agents than you’ve ever seen” to New York City if the state government passed a bill limiting cooperation with DHS.
“Providing a quarter trillion dollars to an administration promising that the public ‘ain’t seen shit yet’ when it comes to mass deportation is a historic mistake,” Todd Schulte, president of the immigration reform group FWD.us, said in a statement. “Supercharging the funding for these already out of control systems will come with terrible human consequences and continue to be met with increasing opposition from voters.”
Correction, June 9th: A previous version of this story said Rep. Tim Walberg voted against the funding bill. He initially voted against it but then changed his vote to support it.
Update, June 9th: This story has been updated to include comment from FWD.us president Todd Schulte.
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