We also heard previously that Apple had hired a number of people who previously worked at electric vehicle maker Tesla. The appointment of industry veteran Doug Betts to the Project Titan team points to the intentions of the company.
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Although there is no official confirmation of Betts’ role within Apple, his LinkedIn page says he started working at Apple in July, in an operations role.
Betts’ LinkedIn profile suggests he made major customer satisfaction improvements and warranty cost reductions during his tenure at Chrysler, with job duties that included quality engineering, field issue problem solving, manufacturing operations, and supplier quality, among other tasks. We’ve been seeing rising rumors and hints about an Apple auto since February, capped off with Apple’s own senior VP of operations saying that “the auto is the ultimate mobile device” at the Code conference this past May. The report also claims Apple hired Paul Furgale, a highly-regarded autonomous vehicle researcher from Switzerland, earlier this year.
Meanwhile, Steve Zadesky, a former Ford executive who joined Apple as a vice president of product design for the iPhone and iPod is said to have been put in charge of the project.
As yet there are not many details about the project, although the company is rumored to be working on a few soft of electric vehicle. So, definitely a car guy, definitely works for Apple now. Meanwhile, Samsung keeps criticising Apple for trying to steal employees from their battery department. Tesla CEO, Elon Musk had even publicly accused Apple for luring their employees away.
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Within Apple itself discontent was brewing over internal poaching.
