After Apple terminated the electric car project, it laid off a large number of employees and bet on home robots. Will this be the Next Big Thing?

A new way out, can Apple refresh us?

Apple is under great pressure, why do you see it?

Apple’s electric car project was canceled in February this year, and they also decided to abandon attempts to produce the next generation screen for the Apple Watch. Both projects were hampered by cost overruns and launch delays. Additionally, it will take years for mixed reality glasses to become a major revenue driver for Apple. Under such circumstances, Apple is facing huge revenue pressure.

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#qi some of the minority of some electric vehicle projects will be transferred to Apple The company's production AI project. Others will have 90 days to find reassignment to other roles within the company or be fired. Internal employees revealed that before the cancellation, about 1,400 employees were still working on the automotive project. The tech giant has laid off more than 600 employees in California, according to documents filed with the state.

However, what is worth looking forward to is that they are looking for another way out. According to Bloomberg, Apple engineers are working on innovative robotics technology, including a mobile robot that can autonomously follow users around the home. The project is still in its early stages, and it's unclear whether the products will eventually come to market, but Apple is facing increasing revenue pressure.

Since the days of Steve Jobs, Apple has been pursuing the “next big thing”. But the fact is that it seems that it is difficult to develop an epoch-making product like the iPhone. Apple is catching up in the wave of artificial intelligence, and these technological reserves are also very beneficial to Apple's robot development. It is reported that Apple’s AI researchers are working on algorithms to help robots navigate cluttered spaces in people’s homes.

Through robotics, Apple may be able to capture a larger market share in consumer homes. But it's unclear what approach Apple might take. The main obstacle to moving forward with the product is disagreement among Apple executives, according to people familiar with the matter. Although the development of smart display devices is more advanced than mobile robots, this project has been repeatedly added and removed from Apple's product planning in the past few years.

^{##11 Apple Company's income in different products in 2023, source: Bloomberg Society} ## This is reported to be reported , Apple's robotics technology development is being carried out in its hardware engineering department and the artificial intelligence and machine learning group headed by John Giannandrea. The two executives responsible for home products, Matt Costello and Brian Lynch, are responsible for hardware development. Despite this, Apple has not yet decided whether to make these two projects official product lines for the company, and these R&D efforts are still considered in the early stages of research.

In the eyes of investors, how attractive will Apple’s decision be? Investors seemed to take a cold shoulder following the announcement of the robotics news. Shares gained less at the close in New York, rising less than 1%. Meanwhile, shares of robot vacuum maker iRobot surged 17% in a short period of time, a sign that investors believe Apple's interest in the space could be a boon for iRobot. But the rally was short-lived, eventually closing up less than 2%.

Before canceling the electric vehicle project, Apple positioned the company's future in the three fields of automobiles, home furnishings and mixed reality. However, after the car project is canceled, Apple's focus will shift, such as how to better compete in the smart home market. Although Apple's electric car project ultimately failed to materialize, certain technological advances made during the process (such as the development of the neural engine) provided the technical foundation for the company's other products and services. The project also lays the groundwork for Vision Pro, as Apple investigates the possibility of using virtual reality while driving.

However, the adjustment in direction also brings some new concerns, such as whether consumers are willing to pay high fees to use such equipment, and how to technically balance the weight of robot motors on small stands.

^{# Apple Company's artificial intelligence work head John Giannandrea is supervising the robot work, David Paul Morris is photographed}

## This is the best case that Apple is in robotic development It's going well, but it won't be the first tech giant to develop a home robot. Amazon launched a robot model called Astro in 2021, but it remains a niche product as Amazon has been slow to make the device available at scale.

# This The robotics project started around 2019 with the Titan car project. At the time, the project was led by Doug Field, now head of EV at Ford Motor Company. Under Field's leadership, these projects range from nearly silent indoor drones to considerations for home robots.

Field once said, “Before Tesla came along, I never seriously considered leaving Apple. But as the first high-tech car company in modern history, Tesla finally became a reality for me and many others. An opportunity to pursue the dream of 'making the best car in the world', one of the most innovative companies in Silicon Valley."

Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Ford Motor Company Jim Farley both have high praise for Field. Many people regard Field's departure as "a watershed moment for Ford and a downturn for Apple."

Shortly after Field left Apple in 2021, robotics-related work was moved to the Home Devices group. At least one of the original hardware teams from the shuttered automotive project was recently reassigned to work on home devices and robotics. It is understood that the car's operating system - some call it safetyOS - can theoretically be customized for robots.

The original concept for the robot was a device that could navigate completely autonomously without human intervention — like a car — and serve as a video conferencing tool. One distant goal idea within Apple is to have robots that can handle household chores, such as washing dishes in the sink. But this would require overcoming extremely difficult engineering challenges – something that is highly unlikely to be achieved within a decade.

Reference link:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-04 -03/apple-explores-home-robots-after-abandoning-car-efforts

https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-cuts- 600-california-jobs-after-electric-vehicle-screen-retreats-2024-4

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