Apple lays off 200 staff from autonomous vehicle group Project Titan

Other staff will be moved to different projects

Apple has reportedly dismissed more than 200 staff from Project Titan, its secretive autonomous vehicle development programme. That's according to a CNBC report, citing people familiar with the matter.

The report says that an Apple spokesperson formally acknowledged the layoff, although classified the dismissals as staff restructuring.

Other workers affected by the restructuring will stay, but will be moved to other projects, the report suggests.

"We have an incredibly talented team working on autonomous systems and associated technologies at Apple. As the team focuses their work on several key areas for 2019, some groups are being moved to projects in other parts of the company, where they will support machine learning and other initiatives, across all of Apple," Apple's spokesperson told CNBC in a statement.

The latest round of layoffs aren't the first in the division, which also cut staff back in 2016.

In recent months, Apple CEO Tim Cook has reiterated that health-related features are a top priority for the company, but remained tight-lipped about developments in electric and autonomous vehicles.

While Apple's vehicle plans appear to have been scaled back from the development of a physical vehicle to merely the software, renowned Apple watcher Ming-Chi Kuo claimed in August last year that Apple may release a vehicle as early as 2023.

Kuo said that Apple is also working on an augmented reality headset, which could be launched in 2020. Kuo also stated that the Apple Car will be the next 'star product' from the company, and that Apple's leading technology advantages will differentiate the vehicle from rivals.

Nevertheless, Apple is thought to have been struggling to 'reinvent' the vehicle. Apple Car's entry into the market will be somewhat late, trailing Tesla and even Dyson.

Moreover, in July last year, Apple accused one of its former employees, Xiaolang Zhang, of stealing trade secrets about Apple's driverless car project and trying to flee to China. According to the company, Xiaolang was planning to relocate to a Chinese autonomous vehicle start-up called Xiaopeng Motors.

The court document revealed that Zhang had downloaded a large volume of information from company servers and had also taken hardware from Apple's autonomous vehicle lab.