A rash of departures from the tumultuous automotive business for better ambitions in recent times includes three key engineers from Apple’s Inc self-drive car project.
As per Bloomberg News, Apple’s chief engineer, Eric Rogers, who was to head as chief engineer for the projects radar system, joined Joby Aviation Inc., a flying taxi start-up recently. The battery systems group engineering manager Alex Clarabut has joined the air taxi company Archer Aviation Inc. Another Apple employee to join Archer is Stephen Spiteri, a hardware engineering Manager. The confirmation from Archer and Joby of the new appointments confirms aviation start-ups move to poach Silicon Valley talent. A spokesman from Apple refused to comment on this development.
The self-driven car is the next big thing to happen though the nascent industry faces challenges despite the huge sales opportunity. Apple’s exodus points to the seven-year-old new technology project being marked with high attrition and strategy shifts as the latest technology troubled engineers.
The Apple project management team lost six of its members this year, including Doug Field, its former head. A recent departure was the key personnel, Michael Schwekutsch, who led the project’s hardware engineering. Schwekutsch has joined as Senior Vice President in Archer.
The other employees have joined Rivian Automotive Inc., a car start-up based in Irvine, California. The automaker had come up with an IPO last month.
Apple, however, made some key hiring simultaneously this year. CJ Moore, director of self-driving Software at Tesla, and Urlick Kranz, the former electric development head at BMW and the founder of Canoo, a car start-up, have joined them.
Radar technology is a crucial aspect of a self-driven car. It differs from the cameras that Tesla uses for its vehicle. Radar Technology helps the self-driven vehicle to operate and understand its position on the street. Eric Rogers was overseeing the radar systems at Apple.
Doug Field, the former project head at Apple, has joined Ford Motor as Senior Executive. The other managers who have quit include Benjamin Lyon, Jaime Waydo and Dave Scott, and Dave Rosenthal.
Apple plans to bolster its combined charging system with a battery system. The CCS is a platform that is globally expanding. The successor to Field is the head of Apple Watch and Health software, Kevin Lynch, who will now oversee the car project. He is now planning to give the Car project a clearer vision and urgency. This includes a push to launch a fully self-driven car by early 2025.
