“Speculation about Apple’s vehicle project, which is reportedly referred to as Project Titan internally, is as rampant as ever,” Daniel Sparks writes for The Motley Fool. “The latest Apple Car news comes from an update on the so-called ‘poaching war’ between Apple and Tesla Motors as the two companies vie for talent for their electric car teams.”
“Former Tesla vice president of vehicle engineering Chris Porritt was recently “poached” by Apple, possibly to run the company’s electric car project, according to a number of media outlets,” Sparks writes. “But Tesla has confirmed with The Motley Fool that Porritt left that company as early as September 2015.”
“This means that Apple hired a former employee, and didn’t poach a key executive straight from Tesla’s current executive team,” Sparks writes. “This is an important tidbit for investors to understand, as it suggests there were already issues between Tesla and Porritt unrelated to Apple’s hire of the engineer… Whatever happened between Tesla and Porritt remains unclear. But it’s almost certain the auto veteran will be an asset to Apple.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Tesla’s loss is Apple’s gain. Get used to that.
SEE ALSO:
Apple hires former Tesla VP of Vehicle Engineering to work on ‘special project’ – April 19, 2016
Avoid Tesla because hydrogen is the new electric – March 7, 2016
Apple leases 96,000-square-foot industrial facility as car talk swirls – March 3, 2016
Apple’s lease of old Sunnyvale Pepsi bottling plant hints at Project Titan expansion – March 1, 2016
Apple silent on mysterious noises coming from clandestine complex – February 27, 2016
Loud, late-night ‘motor noises’ emanate from Apple’s secret vehicle testing center – February 11, 2016
Apple Car: Jony Ive unhappy with ‘Project Titan’ progress, Apple implements hiring freeze, source says – January 25, 2016
Apple Car: Forget ‘electric,’ think hydrogen fuel cells – February 20, 2015
Inside Apple’s top-secret ‘Titan’ electric car project – March 13, 2015
Tesla beware: Apple may have found the holy grail of electric vehicles – August 25, 2015
Apple working with Intelligent Energy on fuel cell technology for mobile devices, sources say – July 14, 2014
North Carolina regulators approve Apple’s 4.8-megawatt fuel cell facility at Maiden data center – May 23, 2012
New aerial images of Apple’s planned NC fuel cell, solar farms published – April 7, 2012
Apple’s massive fuel cell energy project to be largest in the U.S. – April 4, 2012
Apple patent application reveals next-gen fuel cell powered Macs and iOS devices – December 22, 2011
Apple patent app details highly-advanced hydrogen fuel cells to power portable devices – October 20, 2011
Can’t wait for Apple to reveal a Car and VR/AR device in the coming years.
Of the two, a Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality device would fit with their current product line up (even better than the Apple Watch did):
– Devices that once you try them, you have to have one
– Devices that will benefit from regular updates
– Consumer customers first, businesses following
In contrast an Apple Car will/would require major changes to Apple’s sales, marketing, etc.
Mixed reality would be more of an Apple thing. Think augmented reality and virtual reality combined.
You must be one of those idiots who don’t like MDN but set it as your homepage with no idea how to fix that. I feel your ignorant pain, I really do.
Who ever said Apple was working on a electric car?
I bet you want androiddailynews to flourish. Is flourish to big of a word for you?
Also possible Apple made him an offer he couldn’t refuse, and he sat out the last six months to reduce the chances of a lawsuit.
I’m still waiting for CarPlay to live up to it’s initial billing: Hands Free AND Eyes Free. My current car integrates with my iPhone 6s, but it is nowhere near “Hands Free and Eyes Free”.
I could wait forever for an Apple Car if they could just integrate CarPlay into any consumer class car (think less than $40k all in) with the originally claimed functionality in full.
This complaining about “Poaching” by Tesla and other companies brings them into sight of the DoJ for tacit collusion. Remember that some Silicon Valley companies were seriously fined for their anti-poaching agreement.
This could be the Apple Car’s competition. Add some lightweight structure and a few more model jets and it will be the first flying person mover for under $40K. No runway or roads required:
… We knew Chris Porritt wasn’t poached. But it was a fun excuse to talk about poaching, which has become at least a rhetoric conflagration at Tesla.