From the start, Project Titan encompassed a wide range of details, including motorized doors that open and close silently, a redesigned car interior without steering wheel or gas pedals, and virtual or augmented reality in interior displays. The team also worked on a new light and ranging detection sensor, also known as lidar. Lidar sensors normally protrude from the top of a car like a spinning cone and are essential in driverless cars. The daily noted that Apple, as always focused on clean designs, wanted to do away with the awkward cone. The company also put its attention on reimagining the wheel, considering the possibility of using spherical wheels -round like a globe- instead of the traditional, round ones, noting that spherical wheels could allow the car better lateral movement.
The sources said that the size of the project became daunting, as did the lack of a clearly defined vision of what Apple wanted in a vehicle. Team members complained of shifting priorities and arbitrary or unrealistic deadlines. Following a debate on whether the company should produce a fully or partially autonomous vehicle, Titan was eventually reined in, with emphasis put on software and systems, while staff was reduced. The team has however started growing again, adding personnel with expertise in autonomous systems, rather than car production.
