After years of speculation, Apple has reportedly cancelled work on its planned electric car.

According to a report from Bloomberg, the 2,000 staff working on the project were informed on Tuesday. Citing internal sources, the report notes that many staff were surprised to see the project overseen by Kevin Lynch shelved.

The decade-long effort was one of the most ambitious plans in the iPhone maker’s history, but the decision was made in a memo sent by Lynch and chief operating officer Jeff Williams.

The report adds that several staff will be moved to Apple’s AI unit, with the company falling behind the likes of Microsoft and Alphabet’s Google in the race to conquer this burgeoning market.

The Apple car project, internally referred to as Project Titan, was launched around a decade ago at a time when Big Tech firms were becoming increasingly interested in self-driving cars. A Reuters report from 2020 said that the company was aiming for a launch in 2024 or 2025, but radical changes in the design of the vehicle, combined with a revamp of its software approach led the effort to stall.

More recently, high interest rates and lower consumer spending power have led to a slowdown in demand for expensive electric vehicles, while high-profile incidents involving self-driving cars have led regulators around the world to increase scrutiny of their safety and viability.

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