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Apple Continues to Recruit Talent to Join Secretive Automotive Team

I can never understand how these newly hired specialist engineers avoid using ideas they have already been working on at their previous employment. And yet, if they did they run the risk of being sued for stealing trade secrets. TSMC are currently suing an ex employee for the same thing after they left for Samsung.

Surely they are not going to start from scratch and ignore all their previous research and knowledge about how to solve certain engineering problems? I just wondered how this works in practice. I guess the previous employer would have to have evidence of such malpractice before they could do anything.
 
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Four oF NINE said:
I'd much prefer Apple stick with a handful of products that are really well designed and engineered, and do them really well. Computers, mobile devices, wearables.

Getting so far afield into autos seems fraught and ill-advised. Auto industry players are over 100 years old. they're capital investment intensive, and margins are relatively thin.

I hope they know what they're doing.. My advice? Tread carefully.
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Is that the case with electric vehicles?
 
MacRumors said:



Apple continues to recruit talent to bolster its "Project Titan" team, which is rumored to be researching an electric vehicle. Over the past several weeks, the company has hired multiple employees from Tesla Motors, Texas Instruments, and other companies in the automotive and technology industries, likely to join hundreds of others already working on the so-called "Apple Car."

Tesla-Texas-Instruments.jpg

Apple hired former Tesla Motors engineering manager Hal Ockerse last month to join its own software engineering team, according to his LinkedIn profile. Ockerse was employed at Tesla between July 2014 and August 2015, working on hardware architecture and advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) components, including cameras, radars, LiDAR, and engine control units (ECUs).

Hal-Ockerse-Apple.jpg

Ockerse does not list his responsibilities at Apple, but it is likely that he is working on Apple's car-related project. His experience prior to Tesla includes an eleven-year stint at Gentex Corporation, where as a research manager he worked on advanced driver assist solutions, a three-axis automotive electronic compass, custom designed HDR image cameras and sensors, and more.

Apple also recruited former Texas Instruments design engineer Subhagato Dutta to join its in-house technologies team in July. Dutta is a recent graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, known for its research on self-driving vehicles, and worked on an automotive algorithm and imaging algorithm development team at Texas Instruments between July 2012 and November 2013.

subhagato-dutta-apple.jpg

Yakshu Madaan joined Apple as a technical program manager in July, according to his LinkedIn profile. Madaan previously served as an operations manager at Tata Motors, the largest Indian automotive manufacturer, between July 2012 and August 2014. Madaan also designed and developed fuel injection strategies as a research assistant at the Indian Institute of Technology and UBC in early 2011.

Yakshu-madaan-apple.jpg

Apple has been recruiting automotive experts since at least February for its automotive-related project, including former Tesla, Ford and GM employees, but there still remains some uncertainty as to whether Apple is working on its own vehicle or building upon its CarPlay platform for an enhanced in-car experience. As expected, the project remains highly secretive in Cupertino.

Last week, it was reported that former Tesla firmware engineer Jamie Carlson left the company to join Apple's "Special Projects" group in August, alongside several other autonomous vehicle experts. Apple also hired Doug Betts, former Senior Vice President of the Chrysler Group, and Paul Furgale, a researcher who specializes in autonomous vehicles, according to a report in July.

Article Link: Apple Continues to Recruit Talent to Join Secretive Automotive Team
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Wow they hired all men? Hmmm.
 
TallManNY said:
I hear you on the hubris of this attempt. But margins are thin to none existent in cell phones and PCs, except for Apple. Building cell phones and PCs also requires huge capital for the manufacturing, but Apple outsources that. So don't pretend that the car business is all that different. And Apple would presumably only go after the luxury market. It will not go after market share. So don't look at 80% of the car sales. Look at the 20% most expensive cars sold in the U.S. market and ask if those cars sell at low margins.
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I think Gruber had it right on his latest podcast. Apple will start with electric and somewhat autonomous before going full self driving. From an infrastructure standpoint I don't think we're anywhere close to being ready to support self driving vehicles.
 
AngerDanger said:
It's interesting to read rumors about a secret car project, original content production, and a new TV. Is anybody else suspicious that these aren't three separate projects but actually one? There is a huge space in the market for a car that plugs into one's television and generates content at random.
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"A sitcom, a television, a vehicle...these are NOT three separate devices! And we are calling it Vehicle-o-sitcom-o-vision©! Today Apple is going to reinvent the vehicle. And here it is."
 
TallManNY said:
Lots of activity. Too many guys associated with nuts and bolts to be just a car play product. So it is a car. But is it a self driving car? Is it an electric car? I'd guess yes for both those things. But I'd almost be more intrigued if it was just a normal current car that Apple wants to introduce in two or three years and go after the luxury car market in total. Think of it as a competitor for Audi/BWM/Mercedes and not so much competition for Tesla and Google Driverless Cars. High design and improved customer satisfaction has often been a main driver for Apple The car wouldn't need to be self-driving to have that special Apple touch.
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I'd bet my livelyhood on Apple never shipping a product into which you'd have to pump some icky fossil goo. Let alone now when the ICE is soon to be dethroned by the electric motor. Why wouldn't they put their money into the emerging technologies, i.e. AC motors and autonomous driving capabilities?

Entering the market now with an ICE car, a car with a technology whose days are practically numbered, would be very unwise.
 
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Mr. Madaan used to work at "Tata Motors"? I bet they make some interesting looking vehicles...
 
subsonix said:
Are you suggesting that the prices on current vehicles are heavily inflated, and they're actually very cheap to make?
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I have no idea. But I keep hearing that electric vehicles aren't as capital intensive as traditional vehicles.
 
avanpelt said:
Ahhh, yes. This team is so "secret" that they post about being hired by Apple on Linkedin.
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Nothing on their LinkedIn profile says they're working on an Apple Car. One recent new hire rumored to be part of the car team updated her profile to say she's now "prototyping for industrial designers". Can Apple dictate that a new hire not update their LinkedIn profile to say they're working at Apple?
 
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T-Will said:
"A sitcom, a television, a vehicle...these are NOT three separate devices! And we are calling it Vehicle-o-sitcom-o-vision©! Today Apple is going to reinvent the vehicle. And here it is."
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Joking aside. At what point Apple would have to admit they are working on this.

Wouldn't surprise me if that jack ass Carl icahn starts demanding some disclosure on this - specially if billion upon billions begin showing up on the R&D disclosures.
 
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AngerDanger said:
It's interesting to read rumors about a secret car project, original content production, and a new TV. Is anybody else suspicious that these aren't three separate projects but actually one? There is a huge space in the market for a car that plugs into one's television and generates content at random.


"Today, we're releasing a car, a television, and a content generator. A car, a TV, and a content generator. Are you getting it? These are not three different things."
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Wat? A car that plugs into TV? What the fudge you've been smoking???
 
AppleScruff1 said:
Thank goodness Apple doubled down on secrecy or else this secret automotive group wouldn't be a secret.
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Well, perhaps it's not an automotive group. :D Apple have a lot of employees, perhaps if you look for some other seemingly unrelated group you'd also find a handful.
 
I hope Apple doesn't make a car. Can you imagine all of the stupid protective accessories? Rubber covers to put on the car to protect it. Windshield covers to protect the glass.
 
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subsonix said:
How about building the computer of tomorrow instead. I don't get this car rumor.
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You answered your own suggestion.

AppleScruff1 said:
Thank goodness Apple doubled down on secrecy or else this secret automotive group wouldn't be a secret.
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You try hiring 500 experts in the field of motor vehicles and keeping it a secret. It'd be impossible.

Ashf0rd said:
How disappointed will you be when it turns out they're just trying to build a street view vehicle.
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They have those already.

nepalisherpa said:
Let me get hired and then I will tell you all what the project is about. :D
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It's about a car.

Four oF NINE said:
I hope they know what they're doing.. My advice? Tread carefully.
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I'm sure they're listening. They're practically teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.
 
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You will not buy the AppleCar. Apple will introduce this "car" and a companion app that works like Uber, but without the driver.

You will input your destination, use TouchID to verify ID (and payment), input your destination into Apple maps (yeah, no snide comments necessary), and the nearest car will come get you and take you to your destination.

This is not a consumer level vehicle*

*all based on my "I'm just pulling tidbits together" and really have no insider knowledge of what they are planning. :)
 
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Rogifan said:
I have no idea. But I keep hearing that electric vehicles aren't as capital intensive as traditional vehicles.
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And capital is the least of any obstacles Apple might face for anything they'd want to do. Apple has more capital on hand than the rest of the U.S. auto industry combined. Possibly more than the entire auto industry.
 
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