Techcrunch blog!: Apple cancels autonomous car project

Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Good afternoon, and welcome to TechCrunch PM. I'm here to help you wind down your day with today's biggest news, starting with Apple's decision to cancel its autonomous car project and lay off some employees. Meanwhile, Lapse grabs funding, Sony also makes layoffs and Threads is very popular.

— Christine

Image Credits: Bryce Durbin / TechCrunch

TechCrunch PM Top 3

Apple slices and dices Project Titan: In a developing story, we learned that Apple made the decision to end its decade-long attempt to enter the autonomous vehicle space. We got word there are layoffs associated with this move, but we have not yet determined how many.

Lapse snaps up $30 million: Lapse, the app that turns your phone into an "old school" camera, claims millions of users, 100 million photos captured each month and a top 10 ranking in the U.S. App Store for photographic apps. Now it has a new round of funding.

Threads widens its gap with X: In the war to win users, Meta's Threads has won the most recent battle after seeing three times more daily downloads than X. Granted, Threads is a newer app, and a lot of people had X already or have vowed never to use X again. Still, it's Meta's market to make.

Image Credits: Lapse under a license.

More top reads

Sony and its layoffs: Sony is the latest Big Tech company to announce some major layoffs in recent weeks. The electronics giant is cutting 8% of its workforce, or 900 jobs, in its PlayStation division. The company cited that "changes need to be made to continue to grow the business and develop the company."

Photoroom now valued at $500 million: After first reporting that Photoroom was looking for funding in January, we've now confirmed that it's raised $43 million. The company developed an AI-based photo-editing app currently processing some 5 billion images annually.

GitHub Copilot! Get your GitHub Copilot!: GitHub made its Copilot Enterprise product generally available. The $39-per-month version of GitHub's code completion tool and developer-centric chatbot for large businesses, Copilot Enterprise includes all the features of the existing Business plan, including IP indemnity, but extends this with a number of crucial features for larger teams.

Writer helps you generate text from images: There's no shortage of tools out there leveraging generative AI to help you get something done. In Writer's case, it can create text from images, including graphs and charts.

TikTok loses more songs: TikTok's continued quarrel with Universal Music Group has no outcome yet, and that means more songs are being removed and videos containing any songs have to be muted.

Apple's Vision Pro gets a split screen: Your work desk might not be big enough for multiple screens, but in Vision Pro’s world it is. A new app called Splitscreen gives you that and more.

Meet Codified: The startup is out to solve the data compliance problem "by making sure that you can easily get access to data in a compliant manner within your company."

Image Credits: Akio Kon / Bloomberg / Getty Images

Before you go

Mobile World Congress is taking place this week in Barcelona, and we have a team bringing you all the products, announcements and startup news from the conference. Some of the highlights include Jolla's "blackbox for your life," the Displace wireless television, Lizcore's sport tracking system, eQub's peer-to-peer lending app and Synflora's skincare revolution.

Image Credits: Bryce Durbin/TechCrunch

On the pods

On today's Found, Dominic-Madori Davis speaks with Parachute's Ariel Kaye. Kaye started the bedding and home goods company in 2013, the heyday of direct-to-consumer brands. She joins Dom to talk about what it was like building as a solo founder while she's established a well-known brand and expanded beyond bedding. Listen here.

Every Tuesday, Becca Szkutak and Dominic-Madori Davis interview early-stage founders on their origins, product roadmaps, funding efforts and how they grow from failures. Want to be featured?

Image Credits: Bryce Durbin

Join Waymo, Signal, and more at StrictlyVC Los Angeles

Join StrictlyVC’s cocktail party in Los Angeles on February 29 to hear from leaders like Meredith Whittaker (president, Signal) and Tekedra Mawakana (co-CEO, Waymo), and connect with top VCs and entrepreneurs. Tickets are $150 — register today.