Apple's Abandoned Car Project Gave Birth to Its AI Chip, M7 Ultra in the Works

Apple's failed self-driving car project led to the development of the Neural Engine, and the company is now accelerating work on the M7 Ultra chip with up to 1.5TB of RAM support.

This article was drafted with AI assistance from multiple sources and was reviewed and approved by a human editor before publication.

The Neural Engine, now central to Apple's AI processing, emerged from the company's abandoned self-driving car project, according to Mark Gurman's latest Power On newsletter. During early work on the autonomous vehicle platform, Apple recognized the need for powerful on-device AI processing. Although the car-specific processor was never completed, the effort spawned the Neural Engine, which debuted in the iPhone X with the A11 Bionic chip.

Initially, the Neural Engine handled computer vision tasks such as FaceID, Animoji, and augmented reality. By pioneering on-device AI processing, Apple gained an early advantage and later integrated the Neural Engine into its M-series chips for desktops. While Apple's AI software has trailed competitors, its hardware has been a strong point, enabling privacy features by minimizing cloud data transmission.

Gurman reports that Apple is now prioritizing AI hardware. The company is reportedly skipping the Pro, Max, and Ultra variants of the upcoming M6 chip to focus on the M7, expected in the first half of 2027 with major Neural Engine improvements. The M7 Ultra, in particular, is anticipated to underpin a new Apple server product and support up to 1.5TB of RAM.