The Apple Car project, the existence of which has never been confirmed by the company, has reportedly lost a key member – Michael Schwekutsch who was an engineering director. The employee left the iPhone maker to join Archer Aviation which is an air taxi startup. He has updated his LinkedIn profile to show that he is now the Senior Vice President (SVP) of engineering at Archer.
The self-driving car by Apple, as suggested by the rumours, has been in the news for almost ten years now. The initial rumours started when the former SVP of Technologies Bob Masfield was believed to have taken control of the car project. The Apple Car project was internally codenamed ‘Project Titan’.
Previously at Tesla, future at Archer Aviation
Schwekutsch left Tesla in 2019 to join the Apple Car project. He reportedly held the role of senior director of engineering of a special project (the Apple Car project). At the electric car company Tesla, Michael was the vice president (VP) of engineering.
The Apple Car project continues to go through massive changes as management shake ups continue to happen every single year. The vice president of special projects Doug Field left the company to join the car maker Ford. Field was at Apple for three years, heading the car project along with the likes of Bob Mansfield and John Giannandrea. John Giannadrea is the senior vice president of Machine Learning and AI Strategy at Apple.
At the moment, the AI chief reportedly continues to oversee the development of the self-driving Apple Car. However, the Apple Watch chief Kevin Lynch has been taken under the special projects umbrella to work on the car. Under the new leadership, the project is moving forward, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The release of Apple Car, according to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, is being planned for sometime in 2024-2025.
