Apple cuts jobs after dropping self-driving car plans

Apple has cut more than 600 jobs after reportedly dropping its self-driving car plans.

The majority of the cuts come from the address of the site which was working on the recently abandoned self-driving car project in California, according to Bloomberg.

The state's employment department was notified on 28 March that 614 staff will be laid off in May.

Apple has been approached for comment.

The tech giant has avoided mass layoffs in recent years, unlike other firms which have cut hundreds of thousands of jobs since the pandemic.

In May last year, Apple boss Tim Cook told CNBC that layoffs would be a "last resort".

There have been more than 50,000 job cuts in the industry so far in 2024, according to tracker layoffs.fyi.

High-profile firms such as Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Snap and PayPal are among the tech companies to have announced cuts in 2024.

However, Apple has laid off far fewer people compared to their competitors.

It has a global workforce of about 161,000, according to GlobalData.

Apple is the world's most valuable company - but "no one is immune to job cuts," says industry analyst Paolo Pescatore of PP Foresight.

"While this might seem significant given that it relates to Apple as one of the last big tech giants to make job cuts, it is not driven by the need for efficiencies," says Mr Pescatore.

"It feels more like a shift of strategic focus into other new emerging areas like AI," he adds.

Research slows down

Reports of Apple ending its multi-billion-dollar investment into its self-driving car project first emerged in February.

However, the company has never publicly acknowledged its existence.

Apple reportedly spent billions of dollars on research and development of a fully autonomous vehicle without a steering wheel and pedals.

But it was understood to still be years away from producing a vehicle.

Other companies such as Ford and General Motors have also slowed down on autonomous vehicle research as costs rise.

It was reported that Apple would move many of its 2,000-strong electric car team to work on AI projects instead.

A separate filing in the California jobs report shows that in January, Apple laid off 121 workers in its San Diego office.

According to Bloomberg, this team was working on AI and workers were asked to move to Austin, Texas.