Michal Marek Lately, a lot of speculation has surfaced about the alleged of Apple's interest in entering the automotive industry. Several reliable sources immediately came up with information about the upcoming electric car, and the journalists based their conclusions on, among other things, Apple's zealous effort to hire professionals from the automotive industry. In Cupertino, they showed a special interest in the company's employees Tesla, which is still the unattainable technological sovereign in the field of electric cars.
It is said that hundreds of employees are already working on Apple's new secret project, which Tim Cook was supposed to approve a year ago. But what kind of people are there among them? From the overview of the talents that Apple has hired for the project, we can get a certain picture of what could be worked on in Apple's secret laboratories. The number of new employees and their varied resumes suggest that it will not only be possible to improve the CarPlay system, which is a kind of iOS modified for the needs of the dashboard.
If we look at the interesting list of reinforcements and experts of Apple, which you based on analysis server 9to5Mac below, we find that most of Apple's new recruits are professional hardware engineers with experience in the automotive industry. They came to Apple, for example, from the aforementioned Tesla, from the Ford company or from other dominant companies in the industry. In fact, most of the people assigned to the team led by project leader Steve Zadesky have nothing to do with software.
- Steve Zadesky – About the existence of a large team led by former Ford board member and vice president of this car company for product design Steve Zadesky, informed The Wall Street Journal. According to him, the team already has hundreds of employees and is working on an electric car concept. The arrival of Johann Jungwirth, who was for a change the president and CEO of the research and development department of Mercedes-Benz, also fueled such speculation.
- Robert Gough – One of the latest reinforcements that arrived at Apple in January this year is Robert Gough. This man came from Autoliv, a company dedicated to safety systems in the automotive industry. At the same time, the company's interest is focused on everything from belts to airbags to radars and night vision systems.
- David nelson – Another former employee of Tesla Motors, David Nelson, is also a new addition. According to his LinkedIn profile, the engineer served as the manager of a team responsible for modeling, predicting and controlling engine and transmission efficiency. At Tesla, he also took care of reliability and warranty issues.
- Peter augenbergs – Peter Augenbergs is also a member of Steve Zadesky's team. He also came to the company from the position of an engineer at Tesla, but joined Apple already in March 2008. According to reports WSJ Zadesky was given permission to assemble a team of up to 1000 people for a special Apple project, to which he was to select experts from within and outside Apple. Augenbergs was to be one of the key experts assigned to the project directly from Apple.
- John ireland – This man is also the new face of Apple and is also an employee who has worked for Elon Musk and his Tesla since October 2013. Even before his involvement in Tesla, however, Ireland was involved in interesting things. He worked as an engineer at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, where he focused on battery technology development and energy storage innovation.
- Mujeeb Ijaz – Mujeeb Ijaz is an interesting addition with experience in the energy sector. He worked for A123 Systems, a company developing advanced nanophosphate Li-ion batteries and energy storage systems. The company's products include batteries and energy storage solutions for electric and hybrid cars, as well as other industries. In this company, Ijaz replaced a number of leading positions. But Ijaz can boast of another interesting item in his biography. Prior to joining A123 Systems, he spent 15 years as an electrical and fuel engineering manager at Ford.
- David Perner – This man is also a new reinforcement of Apple and in his case it is a reinforcement from the company Ford. In his previous place of work, he worked for four years as a product engineer working on electrical systems for hybrid cars of the car company. For hybrid cars, Perner was in charge of calibration, design, research, as well as the unveiling and launch of new car sales. During his time at Ford, Perner helped accelerate the adoption of a new type of transmission for the upcoming Ford Hybrid F-150, which he accomplished by improving the existing fuel economy model.
- Lauren Ciminer – In September last year, a former Tesla employee joined Apple, who was in charge of finding and hiring new employees from all over the world. Before coming to Apple, Ciminerová was in charge of getting the most qualified experts from the ranks of engineers and mechanics to Tesla. Now, it could do something similar for Apple, and paradoxically, this reinforcement can speak most strongly about Apple's efforts in the automotive industry.
It's certain that if Apple is indeed working on a car, it's a project that's only in its early days. According to magazine reports Bloomberg but we would be the first electric cars from Apple's workshop they should have waited already in 2020. Is not a statement Bloomberg rather a bold wish that was the father of the idea, but we won't know right away. In the near future, we probably won't even know whether Apple is actually working on an electric car. However, media reports from around the world indicate this with some of their findings, and this list of interesting reinforcements can certainly be considered one of the interesting clues.
Due to the demanding nature of development, production and also all the related regulations and measures in the automotive industry, we can be almost certain that Apple would certainly not be able to delay its ambitious drive for too long, certainly not, as is its habit, until almost the very start of sales. However, there are still many question marks, so it is necessary to approach Apple as a "car company" with an appropriate distance.
Mobile phone, computer, tablet from Apple? But yeah, they're mostly premium products that look nice, use well, and have a long moral life. A premium car from Apple? No, thank you. Better Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Volvo, Infiniti, etc. After all, people from Infinity could tell how difficult it is to make a name for yourself in the premium market even if you have enough funds.
:D infiniti :D I'd rather buy a fab.. go infinity :D :D :D
I have a new Q50 Hybrid and I really don't understand you. Did I miss an extra model from Fabia with cutting-edge technologies and 368 hp?
May I ask if you have ever driven an Infiniti, or have you driven a Fabia to the max? I mean, are you so unhappy with yourself? :D :D
just an idiot who doesn't understand anything
Lol fabku….. It was a lot of fun ☺️
well, if apple buys tesla even with all the patents, why couldn't it work?
I would just remind you that customers in America reacted similarly to the first cars from Japan...
Japanese cars in the US - Agreed. What I originally wanted to write - very few brands that make a good name in one industry will get a good name in a completely different industry, or in a different price category of their industry. European customers are conservative and the older a person is and the more the world around them changes, the more they gravitate towards traditional values, brands and products. And it won't be an Apple car. Example: Tag Heuer makes decent watches, but when they tried to sell a smartphone a few years ago, they didn't do very well, partly because people have the brand in their brains especially as a watchmaker. For the past ten years, Seiko has been making a narrow line of technically perfect mechanical watches that is comparable in quality to Rolex at the same price. The reasoning of most people is: "if I have 100 or more thousand for watches, it will be Rolex, Omega, or other classics. I won't buy a Seika for 100".
I like Apple, I have 7 devices from them with which I am above average satisfied and that is why I would not buy a product from them from another industry.
Apple and cars? Why not. Nobody knew about Tesla a few years ago either. And Apple was just a computer manufacturer before the crash. It was reversed by Jobs with his iPod and then with the iPhone (a different market segment than the computer market). And where is Nokia now? Basically, it started with smartphones (models 9000 and then Symbian). What exactly is a Car? Engine, brakes, 4 wheels, then a bit of stuff around and today especially more and more electronics to control everything, but mainly the engine for performance and consumption. If it will be an electric motor, then it is quite simple, so it is mainly about energy storage and consumption management. And Apple has quite a bit of experience in that. Besides, there aren't many products/industry where Apple could jump into. It needs a huge (worldwide) market in its size, and that is the automotive market. In addition, it has one big advantage, it thinks and works differently than traditional car companies. If there is a gradual transition to electric cars, it will be a revolution and that is what Apple needs. Before the big car companies reorient themselves, Apple may already be an established brand here as well. If you have extra money, buy Apple shares for 10-15 years. Then you will either be rich or it won't bother you (it was really unnecessary money, no
I see it more like a system similar to iOS for cars. Perhaps one day you will buy an application for your car that will change the design of the alarm clocks, or you will simply update the navigation, etc. I don't see it for the car.
Building a car from scratch is a bit beyond the capabilities of such a group of people. I think an automatic steering system, or if you want an autopilot, is what we will get from this lot. They won't be the first, but they have the makings to do a usable thing... My opinion.
In my opinion, a merger with Tesla would also make sense. However, the dragging of employees does not indicate this. Tesla is in this industry what Apple used to be in IT (and its commercial and consumer parts) and is a decade ahead of others. Just look at what those cars can do, the sprints are a little weaker than the most expensive sports cars... and there is no limit to where it can go yet (without CO2). Even the performance of the car increases with a simple SW update, and if you have a Tesla, you have a free satellite Internet connection.
PS: I don't like Lamborghini
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0e-jquwHKtI
before without CO2 :D
If the power station will be supplied from renewable sources, then why not? Only the lambo had to burn a quarter of a liter of premium gasoline for its conversion. Maybe a little trolling?
What trolling? Yes IF, which never happens. Another nonsense, of course, is to deal with CO2 and not the production of heavy batteries and their disposal, etc. This whole fight against CO2 is a joke and just a way to tax the big business of the automotive industry. Of course, if it were not a matter of choosing billions, but a real limitation of impurities, CO2 would not have been solved today. And if CO2 were to be addressed, then not cars that have a minimal share.
As far as I know, Tesla has an entire ecosystem of batteries based on refurbishment and the stations are supplied from photo panels. And even if not, the fact that the footprint here will be smaller than that of a 12-cylinder pig is definitely worth mentioning.
It irritates me to compare a single parameter.. In addition, CO2, which is completely unnecessary to deal with in today's cars..
By that parameter do you mean CO2?
sure
Among other things, I talked about acceleration and pioneering in the field of electric motor performance….
It's nice that it helps progress, but I won't buy it because of that.. And the acceleration is good even with a lot of standard engines..