Apple Recruits Tesla Alums For Its Car. Launch 5 Years Away
- 3 years ago
Apple Inc. will take a minimum of half a decade to launch an autonomous, electric vehicle because development work remains at an early stage, consistent with people with knowledge of the efforts.
The Cupertino, California-based technology giant features a small team of hardware engineers developing drive systems, vehicle interior and external car body designs with the goal of eventually shipping a vehicle. That's a more ambitious goal than in previous years when the project mostly focused on creating an underlying self-driving system. The company has also added more ex-Tesla Inc. executives to the project.
Still, some Apple engineers on the project believe the corporate could release a product in five to seven years if Apple goes ahead with its plans. The car is nowhere near production stage, the people said, though they did warn timelines could change. They asked to not be identified discussing sensitive, internal work. The majority of the team is currently either performing from home or at the office for limited time, slowing the company's ability to develop a full vehicle. An Apple spokesman declined to comment.
An Apple car would rival electric vehicles from Tesla and offerings from companies like upstart Lucid Motors and established manufacturers like Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz and General Motors Co.'s Chevrolet. A key differentiator would be Apple's ability to integrate its self-driving system, a dear initiative that has spurred the corporate to develop its own software, sensor hardware and chip technologies. The goal is to let a user to input their destination and be driven there with little or no other engagement, consistent with the people conversant in the project.
Apple doesn't manufacture its own products, and it'll likely take an equivalent approach with a vehicle. It's unclear which company would assemble the car, though. In its first attempt about five years ago, Apple worked with engineers from Magna International Inc., a serious auto industry contract manufacturer. Reuters recently reported that Apple is getting to begin producing a car as early as 2024.
Apple has continued to research building its self-driving car system for a third-party car partner instead of its own vehicle, the people said, and it could ultimately again abandon its own car efforts in favor of this approach.
The company first began to create an electrical car in 2014, hiring many hardware engineers for the trouble before rapidly paring it back around 2016 to specialise in the self-driving car system. From 2016 through 2019, Apple cut many workers from the team. However, it kept some hardware engineers expertly in car components who either stayed on the car project or worked on other initiatives.
In a sign it's now rebooted development of a vehicle, Apple in recent months shifted an executive known for his work on vehicle interiors and exteriors to its car team. In 2019, Apple hired former Tesla engineering vice chairman Steve MacManus, but he initially worked on projects unrelated to the car. Now MacManus leads a development group with several employees focused on car interiors, fabrics, car testing and vehicle manufacturing, people with knowledge of the matter said. He reports to Doug Field, a former top Tesla vehicle engineer who runs the Apple car project day to day.
Apple also recently hired Jonathan Sive, a vehicle engineer from BMW AG, Tesla and Alphabet Inc.'s Waymo, as a senior manager on the car project. In 2019, Apple tapped Michael Schwekutsch, Tesla's former vice chairman responsible of drive systems, adding to a growing list of former Tesla employees performing on the vehicle effort.
Late in 2020, Apple also hired another former Tesla vice chairman , Stuart Bowers, consistent with an individual conversant in the move. He led Tesla's self-driving technology team until mid-2019 and was an executive-in-residence at risk capital firm Greylock Partners until July, consistent with his LinkedIn profile.
Source: NDTV
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