Beleaguered Volkswagen hires expert in self-driving cars from Apple’s ‘Project Titan’

“Volkswagen has hired an expert in self-driving car technology from Apple, sending a signal that it will continue to invest in leading-edge technologies despite the financial burden created by its emissions cheating crisis,” Jack Ewing and Danny Hakim report for The New York Times. “Separately, the company has reached an agreement to largely complete its release of records sought by 47 American state attorneys general by year’s end, people with knowledge of the investigations said. Investigators are examining violations of state law on two fronts for Volkswagen, which in September admitted to installing so called ‘defeat device’ software in 11 million diesel cars worldwide that was designed to detect when cars were in laboratory tests and causing the vehicles to lower their emissions of pollutants.”

“By hiring the former Apple executive Johann Jungwirth, 42, Volkswagen is signaling that the emissions crisis will not prevent the company from trying to keep pace with new developments in the industry. Mr. Jungwirth will lead a newly created Digitalization Strategy Department and report directly to Matthias Müller, the Volkswagen chief executive, the company said,” Ewing and Hakim report. “At Apple, Mr. Jungwirth, a former executive at the German carmaker Daimler, was formally director of Mac systems engineering. But he is widely believed to have been a member of a team working on a secretive car project for Apple.”

“The Apple car project has provoked nervousness among traditional automakers mindful of how the company upended the mobile phone market after it introduced the iPhone,” Ewing and Hakim report. “Before joining Apple last year, Mr. Jungwirth was head of a research and development center in Sunnyvale, Calif., operated by Mercedes-Benz, a unit of Daimler. The center’s projects included research on self-driving vehicles and battery-powered cars.”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Volkswagen. What will they lie about next?™

SEE ALSO:
Will Apple’s culture allow the company to produce highly-reliable software for Apple Car? – November 2, 2015
Analyst: Apple Car will cost an average of $55,000 – October 16, 2015
Apple speeds up electric-car efforts, aims for 2019 ‘ship date’ – September 21, 2015
Survey: 77% of hybrid or electric vehicle owners would likely buy an Apple Car – May 13, 2015
What to expect from the Apple Car: Disruption – August 31, 2015
Apple Car: Tesla engineer joins Apple’s ‘Project Titan’ vehicle effort – August 21, 2015
Apple Car development proceeds apace – July 27, 2015
Apple hires veteran Fiat Chrysler auto industry executive – July 20, 2015
What’s up with Carl Icahn’s sudden obsession with the Apple Car? – May 18, 2015
Survey: 77% of hybrid or electric vehicle owners would likely buy an Apple Car – May 13, 2015
Apple Car: Forget ‘electric,’ think hydrogen fuel cells – February 20, 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