Apple CEO Tim Cook (2nd R) greets customers as he arrives for the Vision Pro headphones launch at the Apple Store in New York City on February 2, 2024.
Angela Weiss | Afp | Getty Images
Apple is exploring the development of personal home robots after abandoning the electric vehicle project, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.
Apple engineers are examining a robot that can follow users around their homes and a tabletop device that uses robotics to adjust a screen, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the research team.
Apple in February shut down its electric vehicle project, called Special Projects Group, another of its moonshots. Reports of the secret program, which employed thousands of workers, first emerged in 2014, after the company recruited automotive engineers and other relevant roles.
Apple’s automotive project was part of an internal effort to expand into new product markets. In recent years, the company has also invested heavily in products and services like the Apple Watch and Vision Pro virtual reality headset, but the latter will likely take years to create significant revenue.
The company’s hardware engineering division and its artificial intelligence and machine learning group are overseeing work on personal robotics, Bloomberg reported. According to the report, work on personal home robots is still in the early research and development stage.
Other tech companies have also explored home robots.
Amazon introduced its $1,600 Astro home robot in 2021, which is essentially a smart display on wheels that can respond to Alexa commands. Nearly three years after its debut, the device remains available in limited quantities and by invitation only. An executive overseeing the project left Amazon last May, and in November the company launched a roving security guard-like version of Astro for businesses.
Apple declined to comment.
More information on Bloomberg.
— CNBC’s Kif Leswing and Annie Palmer contributed reporting.