From Bloomberg, August 30:
A group of automotive engineers has left Apple Inc. for self-driving car startup Zoox Inc. after
the world’s most valuable technology company backed off plans to build
its own vehicle, according to people familiar with the situation.
The
17 engineers specialize in designing elements present in both
traditional and autonomous vehicles, such as braking and suspension
systems, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the
moves aren’t public. Many of them originally joined Apple from Detroit
carmakers and suppliers. A Zoox representative declined to comment. An
Apple spokesman declined to comment.
Apple pared
back its automotive ambitions last year after rising costs and
headcount at Project Titan, as the program is dubbed. Hundreds of
engineers were either fired, reassigned or left of their own volition
and the project was given a deadline of late 2017 to prove the
feasibility of its autonomous driving system and decide on a final
direction, people familiar with its workings told Bloomberg News last year.
Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said in June that Apple is focusing
on autonomous driving systems. That technology could then be licensed
to carmakers, or Apple’s efforts to make its own car may be
resurrected at a later date.
The latest exodus to Zoox suggests
Apple is less likely to revive ambitions to make a car itself....MORE
