Apple was working on a secret, unofficial product – which was recently accidentally made public thanks to an Airbnb ad.
Airbnb reveals Apple’s secret product
Apple tried for years to make an electric and/or self-driving car, but eventually gave up. It was known as Project Titan, although that was never officially confirmed. There is now one message appeared, showing that Apple has indeed been working on Project Titan for a long time. Airbnb has hired a Chief Technology Officer and chose a former Apple employee: Ahmad Al-Dahle.
On public social media, Al-Dahle generally keeps quiet about his positions and activities at Apple. Possibly because Apple asked him to sign a non-disclosure agreement. However, Airbnb is a lot less coy in reporting Al-Dahle’s new position at the company. Co-founder Brian Chesky praises the CTO in detail in a message, including the following information about his life in Cupertino:
“At Apple, Ahmad worked on the frontier of technology. He was one of the core technologists behind the iPhone’s display and multitouch systems. He later worked in Apple’s core technology platform group, shipping major features in nearly a dozen devices, including the first Apple Watch. In 2014, Ahmad created and led Apple’s autonomous technology group, responsible for developing the core AI systems for the company’s self-driving car project.”
“At Apple, Ahmad worked at the cutting edge of technology. He was one of the key technologists behind the iPhone’s display and multi-touch systems. He later worked in Apple’s core technology platform group, delivering key features for nearly a dozen devices, including the first Apple Watch. In 2014, Ahmad founded and led Apple’s autonomous technology group, which was responsible for developing the core AI systems for the company’s self-driving car project.”
Al Dahle
The statement in this message is one of the clearest confirmations yet that serious and sustained work has been done on Project Titan. We therefore wonder whether the message will remain online. The message also says more about Al-Dahle. He joined the company two years before the first iPhone came to market, where he worked on multitouch and display systems. He went on to contribute to the development of the Apple Watch and other hardware initiatives before ultimately leading Apple’s autonomous systems.
Al-Dahle left Apple in 2020 and joined Meta, where he focused on AI and has worked within Meta’s Generative AI group since 2023. There he helped launch Llama and roll out AI features across Meta’s suite of apps.
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