Luminar has hired Christopher “CJ” Moore, a manager on the “Apple Car” car project and a former director of Autopilot at Tesla, to lead global software development.
Gabrielle Coppola and Mark Gurman for Bloomberg News:
Moore, who had joined Apple in August, will lead Luminar’s software team to develop autonomous safety features integrated with its lidar, or laser sensors, the auto-parts company said in a statement Wednesday.
The departure from Apple continues a string of high-profile changes to its car project. Over the last two years, nearly the entire Apple Car management team has left. Earlier this month, Ian Goodfellow, another director on the Apple project, left for Alphabet Inc.’s DeepMind. At the same time, Apple has hired new managers from Ford, Rivian and other car industry players.
MacDailyNews Take: It’s a constantly spinning revolving door for these employees and companies. Employees pit companies against each other to secure the highest pay and most stock options. Apple will be just fine.
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Apple has no vision for what it is doing with this car boondoggle. Steve Jobs is not there to throw out bad ideas and promote good ones. There is no leader in Apple with serious technical vision and the strength of will and credibility to drive it to completion. So, it is just muddling toward nowhere in particular and taking its time because the employees know this is going to be a disaster. Who will stop it?
“Apple has no vision for what it is doing with this car boondoggle”
That wasn’t Apple’s vision – it was an idea their brilliant developers had.
The idea to come out with a car is Apple’s idea. Nobody else’s/
The genesis of Apple building a car was Steve Jobs.
Boondoggle is a moronic statement. In 2021 EVs made up a high single digit of the massive global auto sales. Some projections have EV sales making up almost 40% of global sales by 2030.
Apple explores many projects, some come to market while some don’t. EVs are a huge revenue potential. As such and as an EV is an intricate yet expansive product, whether it is right for Apple to offer as a product is a WIP. A WIP cost that Apple can support easily.
Stick with your AppleBS name. With that at least you can claim consistency versus one off lunacy.
since the car hasn’t been publicly introduced, you have no idea about any of this.
you have no idea if it’s “muddling toward nowhere” or “taking its time because the employees know this is going to be a disaster.”
this is no different than the iPhone before its introduction – lots of speculation, no knowledge.
The car could be revolutionary… or not.
We just don’t know.
Extremely well said John. Your post is in stark contrast to the usual unhinged and unmedicated actor that likes to post here.
If (a big If) Apple does release a car, expectations for it will be extreme. The tidal wave in news especially tech news will be extreme too. If they do release a car, it will be interesting to see what Apple has been able to do that differentiates it from Tesla and others.
He’s not Tim Cark, he’s Tim Cook, and he might have to cark it a la Jobs if you ever want him out.
Hyper-intelligent people are not going to put up with Cook’s mediocre Woke-style management.
That rules you out. You’ve been whining about everything Cook does or doesn’t do for years, too stupid to move on.
Some people not only choose to be miserable, they drag every one down around them to wallow in their shit.
Go away. Apple doesn’t need you, you obviously don’t want to support Apple, and every one here is tired of your shrill whine.
Been saying it for a long time.. There will never be an Apple car, ever….
The ongoing, seemingly perpetual discussion of this project is a waste of time as it will never produce anything your eventually going to drive..
At most, it may come out with some digital car enhancements in navigation perhaps, or driving safety.
And to use the excuse that its a revolving door as companies vie for talent, that might be true to some degree, until these people find out that there is no Apple car in sight after years of reports and rumors and its all smoke and mirrors, so they leave with a rock solid NDA so you never hear anything of the sort…
Apple should focus on the aspect of all-electric cars that is being ignored. The energy aspect. Most vehicles (including hybrids) carry around their power source and liquid fuel. Electric cars need an external power source to charge its battery. Where does that energy come from? If a significant percentage of cars become electric, the power grid (already stressed at peak usage) won’t have capacity. Also, there is no practical method to distribute that energy to so many cars, equivalent to gas stations pumping fuel.
If Apple solves those energy problems to becomes a key source of electrical power AND the creator and provider of the method and infrastructure to distribute energy for ALL electric cars, it will ultimately be far more profitable and meaningful to our future, compared to just an Car with AI. The issue with electric car is NOT the need to drive it, it’s the need to charge it.
No such thing as a zero emission car. Electric cars are fueled by coal and nuclear,etc
No EV advocate is claiming that anything humans build is completely zero emission in its lifecycle.
However, the tipping point is here for automobiles lifecycle total emissions. Even in regions that primarily rely on coal and natural gas for electricity production, the total emissions from thousands of tailpipes is worse. Moreover, some regions are blessed with hydro, solar, or wind power. Renewables continue to grow faster than any other kind of electrical power generation. So with each year of development, the cleaner choice will be even more clear.
With Russian fossil fuels off the market, we might as well lean harder into domestic renewable energy production and EVs. The technology is proven, we simply need to get off our butts and install modern charging infrastructure. Scandinavian countries have already shown how to do it, EVs outsell conventional vehicles there already.
Another benefit of EVs is that they are perfect for urban areas. Instead of spewing fumes at stoplights and on clogged roads accomplishing nothing, EVs deliver double or more the equivalent mileage per unit energy. The emissions with EVs even in coal country are controlled by smokestack scrubbers by professionals instead of millions of ya-hoos who don’t necessarily maintain their vehicles. There’s no performance downside to any urban/suburban drive cycle. With instant torque, EVs actually accelerate better than equivalent gasoline powered vehicles. At the worksite, electric trucks will definitely displace conventional ones since the new EVs can act as generators and chargers for all the electrical equipment that construction workers, etc, rely on. No more noisy polluting gas generators to haul around. Bottom line, EVs are a key way to directly improve the smog in cities with historically bad air quality and they will do everything that a current gas vehicle can do, plus more. That pays additional dividends in public health and productivity. It all matters, so include that in your calculations.
I don’t see Apple producing a whole car — they are more likely interested in being a primary supplier of a car operating system software. That’s an order of magnitude more complex than Apple or anyone here thinks, but Apple must think it’s a future profit center. Frankly, I don’t see Apple accomplishing anything that leading mainstream auto companies aren’t already doing. VW’s several brands already offer brilliant EVs at every price range. Ford and GM have revealed their work trucks and glam macho luxury trucks as well. They don’t need Apple’s beta software, they’re already in production and working on the next generation.