“Andrew Kim, the designer who first rose to prominence with a fan-made reimagining of Microsoft’s design language, has left his role as a senior designer at Tesla to join Apple,” Jon Porter reports for The Verge. “His LinkedIn profile says that he joined the company in December of this year, while his Instagram confirms that his first day working at Apple Park was last Tuesday.”
“Along with the recent news of Tesla’s chief vehicle engineer returning to Apple, Kim’s move will certainly stoke speculation that Apple is once again working on an actual car,” Porter reports. “[At Tesla] he contributed to the designs of several vehicles, including the Model 3, S, X, and Y as well as the Roadster V2 and the Semi, according to his LinkedIn profile. In an interview published in 2017, Kim said that his focus at Tesla was on designing the cabin space inside the Model 3, a challenge that had to balance the needs of a car that could be driven by both a human and, eventually, a computer.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Project Titan is shifting into overdrive.
Apple is working on actual vehicles, not just some “vehicleOS” they’d license out to others (which was always a stupid proposition, as anyone who’s studied how Apple works for more than 3 minutes knows implicitly). — MacDailyNews, August 28, 2018
• I’ve always wanted to own and control the primary technology in everything we do. — Steve Jobs, October 12, 2004
• In order to build the best products, you have to own the primary technologies. Steve felt that if Apple could do that — make great products and great tools for people — they in turn would do great things. He felt strongly that this would be his contribution to the world at large. We still very much believe that. That’s still the core of this company. — Apple CEO Tim Cook, March 18, 2015
SEE ALSO:
Apple Car rumor roundup: Project Titan and what it means – September 1, 2018
Ming-Chi Kuo: Apple to launch revolutionary Apple Car within 5-7 years – August 15, 2018
Doug Field, former Tesla engineering chief, returns to Apple – August 10, 2018
Apple’s Project Titan is still a go, says analyst – June 28, 2018
Apple’s autonomous vehicle fleet grows to 62 vehicles in California – May 29, 2018
Apple’s autonomous vehicle project may be closer to fruition than it appears – May 25, 2018
Google buys 20,000 SUVs, Apple gets two dozen VW vans – May 24, 2018
Volkswagen looks to Apple for electric-car design guidance – February 16, 2018
Apple said to develop car operating system in Canada – October 25, 2016
Apple scales back ‘Project Titan,’ effort no longer includes building own car – October 17, 2016
Apple’s Bob Mansfield reboots Apple Car project, lays off several dozen employees – September 10, 2016
South Korea company’s never-before-revealed battery technology expected to be Apple Car’s ‘secret weapon’ – August 9, 2016
Apple Car: Everything we know about Apple’s mysterious ‘Project Titan’ – July 29, 2016
Apple Car: An operating system licensed to other auto-makers? – July 29, 2016
Apple hires founder of QNX with Apple Car project increasing focus on self-driving software – July 28, 2016
Apple taps Bob Mansfield to oversee Apple Car project – July 25, 2016
So what is Steve Zadesky doing now. Sure has been quiet. Was he sent to Siberia?
Typically lazy reporting, having bought into the Chinese whispers that Apple had stopped planing a car rather than admit their error they rewrite history by claiming Apple has simply changed its mind despite the fact Apple has never tied its technology into others plans willingly or successfully and has more than ever been bringing stuff in in-house, suggesting they had always planned as its Plan A the production of their own car. What did happen was an overly optimistic set of expectations and overall timescale and probably an inibility to forge links with others to make the progress desired rather like the streaming service. The project thus had to become more realistic, scaled back temporarily till certain goals could be achieved and re organised with new leaders to support that re assessment. Like streaming, having reached set goals it can be re build its momentum towards a visible product and timescale. Unless provable evidence arrives to the contrary that I believe has been the actual process, a little more mundane for the hacks to deal with of course.
Good. Can’t wait for the announcement of Ive’s retirement. Should have left with empty suit Iovine. Along with Cook, Ahrendts, Fast Eddie, Schiller, et all. All dead wood that doesn’t give a shit about offering lasting hardware value to the user, disconnected private & personal computing, or competing at the highest levels of computing performance.