Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Self driving cars on normal crazy city streets are 8-10 years away, min.


/edit. RELIABLE self driving cars I mean. I get Tesla has it's unsafe beta already. (And normal autopilot on highways is pretty good actually)
 
I was going to wait for the Apple car before buying a Tesla. However, do I want an AI autonomous driving car made by the same company that brings us Siri?

I'm glad I bought the Tesla since gas prices are now quite high. Who knows when the Apple car will actually surface.
 
7 years Tesla but only 9 months at Apple?

Possibilities:
1. Got a better offer and sequentially job hopped.
2. Didn’t fit in with the team.
2a. Pushed for/against something and lost.
2b. Saw Apple not on the right course to deliver a project.

Turnover in an organization is normal but at such a level, such a short tenure raises questions with vetting, compensation, commitments and perspective that’s only seen once on the inside.
 
Self driving cars on normal crazy city streets are 8-10 years away, min.


/edit. RELIABLE self driving cars I mean. I get Tesla has it's unsafe beta already. (And normal autopilot on highways is pretty good actually)
Just remember that reliable is best defined as being better than the average driver. The better will increase over time but even starting at better is a net improvement over the current paradigm.
 
OMG! An engineer went to work for a tech company in Silicon Valley and in less than a year moved to another tech company, possibly because he wasn't a good fit at that tech company, either for him, or for that tech company.

That has never happened before! I'm gobsmacked!
 
  • Like
Reactions: KeithBN
SMH! What a disaster. Every week we're getting news like this. This, Apple car project may not be exciting to work with anymore.
Or the entire project is just a big dumpster fire. Apple can't do everything, making a car is much more complex than what it seems.

In the end, it might be better for Apple to partner with an already established manufacturer like Ford and help them develop the AI. Ford already is making great things on the car-tech front.
 
Self driving cars on normal crazy city streets are 8-10 years away, min.


/edit. RELIABLE self driving cars I mean. I get Tesla has it's unsafe beta already. (And normal autopilot on highways is pretty good actually)
You are actually right. Tesla is just one company doing this. Their tech advancement is based on the miles driven by the cars they have sold.

Other car makers are playing catchup.
 
Turns out he was after Moore money…
While the pun isn't lost on me, I do wonder just how well these folks are paid. It can be relatively well. If nothing else, they're getting good $$, but they want to leave b/c of creative differences, time requirements, stress, etc. Hell, Apple ofc. isn't the only big tech company to lose good talent, despite paying these folks well, with other amenities to boot.
 
I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a dumpster fire. I’ve seen those at corporations multiple times. That said let’s just say (without disclosing sources) that the recent spate of departures is not going unnoticed by other employees and much of it seems to be firmly linked to an arbitrary “must work in office so many days a week” rule that Apple senior management seems desperate to impose. Even new requisitions are putting these requirements in the hiring documents and that’s making it harder for Apple to find new talent than would otherwise be the case.

If they change their stance on this it will likely slow the bleeding currently experienced.
Although greatly disappointed, I would not be surprised if you are correct. I'm saddened by the laziness of our GoPuff convenience culture, so that kids will change jobs just to remain in sweatpants. Similarly, this culture has driven the explosion of Amazon, so rather than physically shop, purchases are soon dropped at your door at the mere expenses seas of vacant retail space and our residential streets choked with constantly circulating blue vans. And brown ones. And white ones.
 
  • Disagree
Reactions: freedomlinux
This Apple car project was dead in the water years ago. It’s just endless troubles for it according to the media with a fair few seemingly saying Appole didn’t even know what it was making. They must have wasted billions on it by now still with nothing to show.
 
  • Like
Reactions: PC_tech
Although greatly disappointed, I would not be surprised if you are correct. I'm saddened by the laziness of our GoPuff convenience culture, so that kids will change jobs just to remain in sweatpants. Similarly, this culture has driven the explosion of Amazon, so rather than physically shop, purchases are soon dropped at your door at the mere expenses seas of vacant retail space and our residential streets choked with constantly circulating blue vans. And brown ones. And white ones.

Just look at this the other way. Those kids will not waste hours and hours in daily commuting, sitting in their vehicles and polluting environment. They will exercise and have some excess time for friends and families instead.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ackmondual
7 years Tesla but only 9 months at Apple?

Possibilities:
1. Got a better offer and sequentially job hopped.
2. Didn’t fit in with the team.
2a. Pushed for/against something and lost.
2b. Saw Apple not on the right course to deliver a project.

Turnover in an organization is normal but at such a level, such a short tenure raises questions with vetting, compensation, commitments and perspective that’s only seen once on the inside.

Absolutely right. Dude endured 7 years at Tesla, and we know how much of a dynamic place that is. This points to a massive red flag on Apple's side.
 
I don't understand how this keeps happening. You would think that Apple is in the absolute perfect position to attract and retain the most incredible talent. They can pay high salaries, provide attractive stock option grants, allocate huge budgets and freedom to projects. How do they fail to create a compelling overall package (not just financially) that makes people stay?
I wonder the same. All I can think is they are jumping ship because they want to make something happen, and it’s not what they thought they would be doing at aapl.. being creative and releasing something tangible.
 
The problem is when these employees leave they are tied down by NDA's which means we do not get to hear what are the problems and why they are leaving. The Apple car project has been going on for far to long and there isn't even an official concept drawing because even Apple does not know what the car is going to look like, others are having to make educational guesses.

It would not surprise me if many brought into the project are getting disillusioned that their results have not produced anything tangible and thus leave to join a company where they will see the fruits of their labour.
 
I normally try not to overplay the significance of a single employee moving from one tech company to another. The significance depends on how much responsibility he held at Apple, which is unclear from the post.

However, given that he is leaving to apparently run Luminar’s software development efforts, this seems to imply that he is fairly experienced and capable. Combine that with the fact that he stayed at Apple for under a year, and I think we can say that there may be some red flags around Apple’s autonomous efforts.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.