Skip to content
Only recently, reports surfaced that claimed Apple was officially abandoning its AI-powered smart car. The news, which Bloomberg first reported, sent shockwaves across the tech and auto industries. What’s more shocking, though, is that Apple could have been where Tesla is in terms of EVs, and Elon Musk is at the helm of the company.
A new report by The New York Times provides further insight into the internal struggles within the Project Titan team, based on conversations with several individuals involved in the project over the past decade.
The report also reveals what Apple had planned for the Apple Car and how it would be controlled. Apple had planned that the smart car would have no steering wheel and would have been entirely controlled by Apple’s AI assistant, Siri.
What’s more interesting is that there was a chance in 2015 that things could have gone entirely different for Apple, Tesla, Tim Cook, and Elon Musk.
Apple had the chance to acquire Tesla long before it made EVs famous and relaxed and before Tesla exploded as a brand. Moreover, the board at Apple also had the opportunity to get Elon Musk to be Apple’s CEO.
While some information around this development has been public knowledge for some time, thanks to NYT technology reporter Tripp Mickle’s book “After Steve,” the New York Times report has some new information that sheds more light on what went down.
Around 2015, when Tesla was developing the Model 3, the EV tech company was on the verge of bankruptcy several times. At this point, Apple, too, was in the process of developing its own EV, Project Titan.
During one of Tesla’s particularly challenging phases, Elon Musk approached Tim Cook, proposing that Apple acquire Tesla. However, Cook allegedly declined the meeting.
A few months later, the Wall Street Journal reported that when Musk approached Cook, the Apple CEO was also reaching out to the Tesla CEO to explore a possible acquisition. However, this report revealed something else.
Musk was open to Apple acquiring Tesla, but he had one condition — that he would not be the CEO of Tesla but of Apple. Cook would take up a higher position on the board and could appoint anyone he wanted to take the reigns of Tesla.
On multiple occasions, Cook and Musk have denied having such discussions, with neither even confirming prior communication between them. It was only in 2020 that Musk revealed that he had approached Cook with the idea of acquiring Tesla, but certain things that would have been crucial to the acquisition did not materialize on time.
The latest report from The New York Times adds more intrigue to this narrative. It reveals that Apple did talk with Elon Musk about acquiring Tesla but ultimately decided to pursue building its car rather than integrating with another company.
