Apple Slashes 600 Jobs, Dropping Self-driving Car Efforts

Tim Cook said a year ago that layoffs would be a “last resort.” It appears that time has come. 

Apple has cut more than 600 jobs, the majority of which were from the self-driving car project they recently shuttered.

A filing in the California jobs report shows that Apple laid off 121 workers from the AI team in its San Diego office in January, while others were asked to move to Austin, Texas. On a percentage basis, Apple has laid off fewer workers than its competitors, maintaining a global workforce of approximately 161,000.

Industry experts say the Apple layoffs are based on a shift of strategic focus rather than trying to be more efficient. 

Other big tech companies that have slashed workforces so far this year include Alphabet, Amazon, DocuSign, Google, and iRobot. 240 tech companies have laid off parts of their workforce, resulting in more than 58,800 tech jobs lost. Dell has told its remote workers they are not eligible for promotions. This seems to be far from over.