Apple reportedly poaches an important Tesla executive
The Apple Car may be back on track. According to a new report from 9to5Mac and Electrek, Apple has just hired an important executive from electric car pioneer Tesla.
A new leader?
Porritt has also logged time with Aston Martin and Land Rover.
Credit: Motor AuthorityChris Porritt boasts an extremely impressive resume. Before becoming the vice president of vehicle engineering at Tesla, he previously logged time at Aston Martin and Land Rover.
He will join Apple in the “special projects” section, which is known to include the elusive Apple vehicle.
The site speculates that Porritt could be leading the Apple Car team, especially with the news of former head Steve Zadesky leaving Apple late last year:
If Zadesky indeed left the company, it would make newly hired Porritt Apple’s most senior “car guy” and a likely candidate to lead the Cupertino company’s electric car initiative. While his expertise could be useful in plenty of hardware engineering roles, he had a focus on vehicle dynamics, vehicle architecture and vehicle packaging throughout his long career.
A long road
Anyone interested in a true Apple car will definitely have to be patient.
Back in September, a report from The Wall Street Journal said that Apple is shooting for the car to hit the market in 2019, which is an extremely ambitious schedule in the world of auto manufacturing.
Earlier this year, Apple reportedly placed a hiring freeze on the “Project Titan” team. That came after Zadesky’s departure.
More than 1,000 employees are supposedly assigned to the project.
