A new Bloomberg today offers new details about Apple’s ongoing efforts to build a self-driving electric car. According to the report, Apple has a “small team” working on the Apple Car, but it is likely that the launch will take place in at least five to seven years. The Apple Car team also added even more former Tesla executives, the report says.
The report explains:
The technology giant based in Cupertino, California, has a small team of hardware engineers developing drive systems, vehicle interiors and external body designs with the goal of eventually shipping a vehicle. This is a more ambitious goal than in previous years, when the project focused mainly on creating an underlying autonomous steering system. The company also added more ex-Tesla Inc. executives to the project.
Work on the Apple Car project was delayed this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the report says. Currently, “the majority of the team is working at home or in the office for a limited time” because of the pandemic. This caused Apple’s work on the project to slow down.
The engineers working on the project believe that a product can be launched “in five to seven years, if Apple continues with its plans.” Ultimately, however, the car is “far from the production stage” and “deadlines can change”.
Apple Car and Tesla
Bloomberg also has details about some recent hires for the Apple Car team, including former Tesla executives. Jonathan Sive, a former vehicle engineer at Tesla, BMW and Waymo, serves as senior manager of the Apple Car team. And Apple hired former Tesla vice president Stuart Bowers in late 2020.
The report says that, in short, Apple’s electric car team is “full” of former Tesla hardware and software engineers. Apple has “several hundred” engineers currently working on the project.
Apple also recently hired Jonathan Sive, a vehicle engineer at BMW AG, Tesla and Waymo at Alphabet Inc., as a senior project manager for the car. In 2019, Apple hired Michael Schwekutsch, former Tesla vice president in charge of steering systems, adding to a growing list of former Tesla employees working on the vehicle effort.
In late 2020, Apple also hired another former Tesla vice president, Stuart Bowers, according to a person familiar with the move. He led Tesla’s standalone technology team until mid-2019 and was a resident executive at venture capital firm Greylock Partners until July, according to his LinkedIn profile.
In addition, Michael Schwekutsch joined Apple’s engineering team in 2019, after previously serving as Tesla’s vice president of engineering. Apple has acquired the habit of hiring former Tesla employees for its autonomous car team. This led Tesla CEO Elon Musk to refer to Apple as the “Tesla graveyard”.
Musk also recently revealed that he intended to sell the Tesla to Apple for a fraction of its current value. Musk claims to have contacted Apple CEO Tim Cook directly, but Cook was not interested in making an appointment.
Finally, the report says that Apple has a small hardware team working on “vehicle dynamics, power trains, safety mechanics and battery technology”. The goal is to “rethink a car’s interior for a future in which people walk passively instead of driving.” Apple’s chip team is also working on processors to power the car’s automatic steering system.
Today’s report from Bloomberg follows an earlier report from Reuters, which said that the Apple car could go into production in 2024. Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, however, said that the launch of the Apple car could be 2028 or more, depending on a variety of factors.
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