- Airbnb’s CTO hiring news seemingly confirms Apple’s long-rumored self-driving car project
- It adds context to Apple’s broader AI strategy, especially with the Google partnership news
- It also shows off Airbnb’s AI ambitions, which are decidedly focused on the human element
Apple is known for being one of the most secretive companies in tech, rarely confirming projects in development and typically announcing new hardware or software only when the timing is right. Entire initiatives can live – and quietly die – inside Cupertino without ever being publicly acknowledged.
That’s why it’s notable that, after years of rumors surrounding Apple’s work on autonomous vehicles, an unexpected confirmation appears to have come from Airbnb.
As part of a publicly shared internal announcement naming Ahmad Al-Dahle as Airbnb’s new Chief Technology Officer, a memo sent to employees states:
“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.”
While Apple has never formally confirmed the project, the statement closely aligns with long-standing reporting and offers one of the clearest acknowledgements yet that the effort existed in a serious, sustained way.
The memo also highlights the length and breadth of Al-Dahle’s time at Apple. He joined the company two years before the first iPhone shipped, working on multitouch and display systems, then contributed to the development of the Apple Watch and other hardware initiatives, before eventually leading Apple’s autonomous systems work.
Al-Dahle left Apple in 2020 and joined Meta, focusing on AI and, since 2023, working within Meta’s Generative AI group. There, he helped launch Llama and roll out AI features across Meta’s suite of apps.
What makes the disclosure particularly striking is not just what it reveals, but how it surfaced. Rather than an official Apple announcement or regulatory filing, confirmation arrived via Airbnb’s hiring announcement – an unusual but revealing route for such a high-profile effort.
The timing also adds context to Apple’s broader AI strategy, including its recent partnership with Google to use Gemini as the foundation for the next-gen Siri and other AI-powered features. Viewed together, these developments suggest less of a retreat and more of a recalibration.
Autonomous vehicles are one of the most complex intersections of hardware, software, and AI, and Apple’s decision to wind down the project appears consistent with a renewed focus on areas where it can ship products at scale within its existing ecosystem.
Partnering with Google on foundational AI models similarly reflects a pragmatic approach, one in which it can accelerate and potentially offload some of its AI capabilities, while also focusing on the finished product, the user experience, and putting user privacy at the center internally.
For Airbnb, the hire underscores how central AI has become to its future. Al-Dahle brings experience building large AI systems and scaling them, which aligns with Airbnb’s expanding use of the tech across its platform.
In 2025, Airbnb rolled out a comprehensive redesign of its iOS and Android apps, emphasizing cleaner navigation, improved discovery, and expanded experiences beyond just rentals. The company has also introduced AI-powered customer service tools and personalized recommendations, while continuing to experiment with social features.
Airbnb CEO and co-founder Brian Chesky has been increasingly vocal about AI’s role in daily life. In the same employee communication, he emphasized a human-first approach:
“In a world becoming more artificial, people are craving what’s real: real connection with real people in the real world. No company is better positioned to meet this need than Airbnb.”
Chesky added that Al-Dahle “shares our belief that technology should serve people – not the other way around – and that its highest purpose is to bring us closer together.”
Airbnb is unlikely to venture into autonomous vehicles, but it’s clear from Chesky’s statement that it intends to remain focused on the customer experience and on encouraging people to connect in the real world.
Chesky’s announcement of the CTO hire also offers a rare window into Apple’s past ambitions and the evolving ways major tech companies approach AI. Although the confirmation came in a unique way, it’s still unconfirmed by Apple.
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