After Apple Inc. deserted one of the most ambitious projects in the history of the company by scrapping a decade long endeavor to build an electric car, Billionaire Elon Musk reacted in his own characteristic style.  In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Musk held his words and instead posted only two emojis (🫡 🚬) after getting the information. “🫡 🚬” the Tesla CEO reacted on the X platform.

The move is shocking because it marks the end of Project Titan — one of the most ambitious and weighty projects in the company’s history, Bloomberg reported. The decision was internally revealed by Jeff Williams (Chief Operating Officer) and Kevin Lynch (Vice President) on February 27, leaving approximately 2,000 project employees dumbfounded.

“If it is true, Apple will put more focus on GenAI and that should give investors more optimism about the company’s efforts and ability to compete at a platform level on AI,” said Ben Bajarin (chief executive of consulting firm Creative Strategies), as quoted by Reuters. Several car team employees, identified as the Special Projects Group (SPG), will switch to the artificial intelligence division under executive John Giannandrea, concentrating on generative AI projects.

Although several hundred hardware engineers and vehicle designers on the Apple car team might get the opportunity to apply for positions in other Apple teams, the precise number of layoffs remains unclear. Apple has so far resisted from making any big moves in AI, in stark divergence from approach of other tech giants such as Microsoft and Alphabet, which have first-mover advantage in incorporating the advance technology.

As per some reports, the company (Apple), famed for its flagship product, the iPhone, had put in billions of dollars in Project Titan with the goal of developing an electric semiconductor car to rival Tesla. The exact reason behind the cancellation is not known, however various reports suggest that the decision to scrap the project may be linked to the Electric Vehicle (EV) Industry experiencing slow growth in recent months.

Ironically Apple considered buying out Tesla for this same project Titan that it has now shelved. Elon Musk confirmed deliberations with Tim Cook during Model 3 development. As Tesla is the leading EV maker of the world Apple could have got access to electric car know-how by acquiring it and maybe could have avoided the predicament of shelving its project Titan.