Tesla also had a Project Titan; How is it different from Apple Self Driving Cars?

Project Titan for Apple began in the year 2014. Apple CEO Tim Cook in late 2014 assigned the project to Vice President Steve Zadesky, a former Ford engineer as project in-charge. For the project, Apple also hired Johann Jungwirth, the former president and chief executive of Mercedes-Benz Research and Development North America. At that time, around 5000 employees were working in the department to build a self0driving passenger vehicle. For our reference, let's call it iCar. The Project aimed to revolutionise the automobile sector and who better than the tech giant with its resources - financial as well human.

A few years down the line, in 2018, Tesla also released a project called Titan. To execute Project Titan, Tesla ordered supplies including ladders and tool belts and sent crews out around the United States, according to the former employee to BI. BusinessInsider reported the project extensively. It was highly different from what Apple is doing, but since the name sound similar let's make you aware of the differences in both the projects.

Tesla's Project Titan

In 2018, Tesla initiated 'Project Titan' - a stealth nationwide program to replace solar panel parts that could cause fires. SolarCity installed and manages solar panels on the roofs of more than 240 Walmart stores. On August 21, 2019, Walmart filed a lawsuit against Tesla, seeking reimbursement for millions of dollars in damages and release from contracts, claiming that fires on the roofs of seven of those stores since 2012 were caused by SolarCity's "negligent installation and maintenance". Even before that,

Even before that, Tesla knew that the product has a fault. The faulty parts in question were the Amphenol H4 connectors and SolarEdge optimizers. These parts are supposed to regulate the flow of energy and heat to a solar panel. They ensured that as much power goes through the part as possible without overheating. Overheating can lead to a fire. In its statement, Tesla described Project Titan as "a remediation effort to limit any impact the connector may have had, even though we are not aware of any equipment manufacturer or regulator that has determined any substantial hazard exists."

In the Clean Energy sector, Tesla has been trying to up its game ever since its existence. This one instance showed that even Tesla couldn't achieve what it said it would. The secretive Project Titan didn't still ensure that it replaced all faulty product. A former employee of tesla told BI, "We don't have a dedicated department to do this stuff. Everything flows one way — make the product, sell the product, install the product."

Apple's Project Titan

When the project started in 2014, many considered it all to be a gimmick. Later, more and more appointments, some acquisitions and investments from Apple showed that Project titan was a reality. In 2016, Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk stated that Apple will probably make a compelling electric car. He said, "It's pretty hard to hide something if you hire over a thousand engineers to do it."

In the subsequent years, the project was unheard of. The Project was very secretive. This year though, in early December, Bloomberg reported that Apple artificial intelligence lead John Giannandrea is overseeing Apple Car development as prior lead Bob Mansfield has retired. A few weeks later, Reuters reported that Apple was working towards a possible launch date of 2024.

Read More: Does Apple have the tech to build self-driving passenger vehicles?

The projects are not even closely related. Its comparing apples to bees. But, Tesla is currently the number one company in the self-driving e-vehicle area, and Apple's venture into the area might make Elon Musk run on a treadmill with his vision.