Alex Webb, Bloomberg:
A group of automotive engineers has left Apple Inc. for self-driving car startup Zoox Inc. after the world’s most valuable technology company backed off plans to build its own vehicle, according to people familiar with the situation.
The 17 engineers specialize in designing elements present in both traditional and autonomous vehicles, such as braking and suspension systems, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the moves aren’t public. Many of them originally joined Apple from Detroit carmakers and suppliers. A Zoox representative declined to comment. An Apple spokesman declined to comment.
My two cents: Apple has moved on from phase one of their experiment. They dedicated resources to learning about autonomous tech and the marketplace it represents. As they got smarter about their capabilities and as the marketplace numbers crystalized, Apple laid out plans for phase two. Different learning focus, different market direction requires different personnel.
Lots of ways to spin this story. I see it as R&D-based business as usual.
Is it R&D business as usual to have 1000+ people dedicated to fact finding?
Building a vehicle is silly. Every manufacturer will eventually produce Evs.
Why do so many startups name themselves to sound like Star Wars characters?
No. They obviously were intending to do far more and scaled back for whatever reason(s). I was more surprised that they ever considered building a full car, though that’s very much in keeping with Apple. A full on Apple Car could change how we consider cars much as the iPhone changed our view of the phone. But people turn over cars much less frequently, the margins are slight and the only way the car could really be completely new is if it was totally self-driving, otherwise you’re pretty much locked into the ‘driver in seat, facing forward with controls in front of them’ model.
Even if Apple still intends to make a car after nailing the software side of things, a temporary shift in the project means specialists pretty much have to leave. It’s not like Apple can move braking or steering specialists over to work on the Mac Pro for a couple of years as software gets sorted.
Still, I’m disappointed. Wanted very much to see Apple take a swing at this in a more personally relevant time frame. Dang Apple, with their thinking things through all the time.
I also wonder if the lack of movement on repatriation has had an impact.