Airbnb appears to confirm Apple's self-driving car project

An Airbnb internal memo naming Ahmad Al-Dahle as CTO says he created and led Apple's autonomous technology group responsible for core AI systems for a self-driving car project; Apple has not publicly confirmed the effort.

Airbnb announced Ahmad Al-Dahle as its new chief technology officer in an internal memo that says he "created and led Apple's autonomous technology group" in 2014 and was responsible for core AI systems for Apple's self-driving car project. Apple has not formally confirmed the project. The memo outlines Al-Dahle's long tenure at Apple, saying he joined two years before the first iPhone shipped and worked on multitouch, display systems and the Apple Watch before later leading autonomous systems. He left Apple in 2020 and joined Meta, where the memo says he worked on generative AI and helped with projects including Llama. Airbnb has been expanding AI across its products, and CEO Brian Chesky framed the hire as aligned with a human-first approach. Key facts: - The Airbnb memo names Ahmad Al-Dahle as CTO and states he created and led Apple's autonomous technology group responsible for core AI systems for a self-driving car project. - Apple has not publicly confirmed the existence of the self-driving car project. - The memo says Al-Dahle joined Apple two years before the first iPhone shipped and worked on multitouch, display systems and the Apple Watch before leading autonomous systems. - Al-Dahle left Apple in 2020 and joined Meta, where he worked on generative AI and was involved in launching Llama and AI features across Meta's apps. - Airbnb has rolled out a 2025 app redesign and introduced AI-powered customer service tools and personalized recommendations; Brian Chesky emphasized a human-first approach in the employee communication. Summary: The memo provides a rare external reference to extended work on Apple's autonomous vehicle efforts and adds context to Apple's recent AI partnerships and product focus. It also highlights why Airbnb is hiring senior AI leadership as it expands AI features across its platform. Undetermined at this time.