Apple car is dead

Ten years ago, Apple set out to reinvent the car.

The original vision was a completely autonomous vehicle with no controls and spherical wheels.

Alas, the dream is over. One day before Apple's annual shareholders meeting, Project Titan has reportedly been officially canceled.

Over the last decade, Apple poured billions into developing a new kind of vehicle for the new century. Given Apple's track record at reinvention, who knows what may have emerged from Apple's labs with such an ambitious plan?

Instead, Apple is reportedly shifting resources to focus more on generative AI.

If so, it sounds incredibly depressing. I was really looking forward to an Apple electric car. Instead, we're going to get an unreliable chatbot to summarize your writing in Pages?

Let's hope it's more ambitious than that, but it's a huge bummer that one of Apple's most forward-looking projects ever has crashed into a wall.

Also in today’s newsletter:

• There’s a booming market in China for Vision Pro rentals, as potential buyers are eager to try on the headset before it officially goes on sale.

• The release candidate for iOS 17.4 just arrived, with huge changes for EU users.

• The iPad’s Center Stage tracking feature is one of the best things to happen to videoconferencing in years. Unfortunately, it’s unlikely to ever come to iPhone. Here’s why.

• I’ve really been enjoying Apple TV+ crime drama Criminal Record, so it’s good news a second season is on the books.

• Amazon's sale on Apple Watch Series 9 drops the smartwatch's price to as low as $329.

— Leander Kahney, EIC.

^{A message from the Cult of Mac Deals team}

^{A message from the Cult of Mac Deals team}

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Today’s poll

Results from yesterday’s poll: What kind of games should Apple Arcade make?

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