Obviously they would have had to create a simpler project before the fsd car. Just like they did the iPod before they did the iPhone.
I highly doubt the problem was, can Apple build a car? They have enough money that they could probably hire the people to do just about anything they wanted to try.
Not really sure how you simplify making a car enough to make it worth getting into the market at all in the first place.
But actually entering the market and getting Apple like margins and volumes... Very doubtful. Cars are significantly more expensive than even the VR headset or top of the line computers.
Apple wanted to launch true self-driving transportation. That would have been revolutionary and when they started, many people thought that was a goal that could be realized in 5-10 years. Since then we have learned that self-driving and much more complex and harder to get right.
Apple seems to have tried some different approaches to the problem, but eventually they decided it was not worth pursuing and cancelled the project. It was inevitable that they would have to lay off some people with skills that could not translate to other products. What is amazing is that they seem to have been able to retain 70% of that team.
More like, it would take too long to become profitable, and this company is not interested in long-term goals.
Not interested in the long term?
If some of us have less confidence than others in their prognostications, well, there are reasons.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2024-03-03/why-wa...
Apple’s Car Was Doomed by Its Lofty Ambitions to Outdo Tesla
And repeated numerous times.
The article was written by the same Bloomberg journalist who broke the story that the project was canceled.