The Apple Car might be stalled, judging by a new hiring freeze
It seems that Project Titan, Apple’s initiative to build its own car, has hit another speed bump. After a post-holiday progress review by Apple design chief Jony Ive, Cupertino has placed a hiring freeze on the project. The news comes via AppleInsider, citing a “previously reliable source with knowledge of the team’s activities.”
This information comes on the heels of reports that Steve Zadesky, a 16-year veteran at Apple who has been leading Project Titan, will be departing from Cupertino. It’s not clear why Zadesky is leaving, or if his resignation has anything to do with the hiring freeze, but it seems rather coincidental. All that reports have indicated is that Zadesky is leaving for “personal reasons,” without any elaboration.
Ive is said to have “expressed his displeasure” with the team’s progress. Project Titan is believed to have more than 1,000 people under its umbrella, working at sites both inside and outside of Cupertino. The team has hit several roadblocks in recent months, all while it works to meet an ambitious schedule that would see final engineering completed by 2019.
The question of whether or not Apple is truly working on an automobile is now considered to be an “open secret,” with Tesla CEO Elon Musk branding the thought a beneficial one, and a venture that will expand the market for electric-powered cars. Whether the project continues in the wake of Ive’s displeasure, though, is another story altogether. Apple CEO Tim Cook appeared on “The Late Show with Steven Colbert” in September, and said that “We look at a number of things along the way and we decide to put our energy into a few of them.”
Will Apple continue to put its energy into its own automobile? Only time will tell, but we’ll continue reporting on the topic as more news and rumors come to light.
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