According to a report by The Verge, citing Mark Gurman’s Power On newsletter, Apple’s self-driving car program—which never reached the market—produced a lasting technical legacy in the company’s chips. Early in the car platform’s development, Apple concluded it would need powerful on-device AI processing. Although the car processor itself was never finished, that work led to the Neural Engine, described as the backbone of Apple’s on-device AI processing.
The Neural Engine first appeared with the iPhone X and the A11 Bionic chip. In its early days it was used mainly for computer vision applications, including FaceID and Animoji.
Why it matters
The account links an abandoned hardware program to a component that now underpins Apple’s on-device AI capabilities, illustrating how discontinued projects can yield reusable technology.