Former Tesla Lead Engineer Doug Field Returns to Apple to Work on Project Titan

[TheShadowKnows!]

Bob can build all the (un)imaginable software (plus a TouchBar in the middle console) but if no company wants to partner with Apple, it won’t work.

Bacillus, totally agree. The forward-thinking automakers see Apple personified as Barbarians at the Gate, and would never secede strategic automation technology to a third party. (Check on Audi's e-tron development, as an example.)

What will be left are the dregs of contract manufacturing.

Nevertheless, on Bob Mansfield I trust. (And share your dislike for Tim Cook.)

 

[xalea]

Wow they must have some really lax non-compete clauses in these contracts of theirs. It's difficult to enforce them anyway so I guess this just proves that point.

 

[0815]

It's very easy to outsell sedans when "everyone" is buying those SUV's.

His comparison was fair game since he compared sedan with sedan .... would be different if sedan would be compared to SUV ...

 

[A MacBook lover]

Over 15K of the car (which currently starts at over $40K, after incentives) were sold in the US in July. That puts it well ahead of any sedan of comparable price, and in the same ballpark as the Civic, the top selling sedan in the US, despite that being available for half the price.

So whoever is responsible for that certainly would be a good person to put in charge of putting a new vehicle into production.

The only question is whether that person is Doug Field, Elon Musk, or someone else. It should be noted that production was only at 2K per month when Doug left but 3 months later it was at 15K - was it just that Doug had everything lined up for when Elon took over, or was it that Elon worked a miracle in the 3 months?

We’ll probably find out in a few years when someone is doing research for a book or something.

Yeap, I believe the model I was in, the sedan, starts from around 55k in the UK, that’s serious German make or Jaguar money. And when the build quality is poor at that price... not very impressive.

And another thing the Tesla employee told me was that the advertised range was not actually true! It’s a lot lower but he blamed some advertising regulations for it...

As for the stupid interface, even Ford has usually done well with voice control, Mercedes uses it, BMW have inroduced hand features which work well.
You look at the Range Rover with its dual screens, same issue as the Tesla. The same with Audi’s, the reviewers all say you have to take your eyes off the road! All though at least with Audi it’s Virtual Cockpit dash works very well and can display a lot of info, but that’s not controlling the cars features.

Love the non-owners chiming in.

All I can say is that the car is not only the funnest car I’ve bet driven, but is the fastest car on the road. After owning one for a year, I’ve never encountered another car that could beat me. Muscles cars, Porsche, you name it.

Also it drives itself, literally.

So besides the simple interior, this is the best car from the planet. Coming from an owner. Free charging for life is a sweet deal too
[doublepost=1533904343][/doublepost]

A guy I know took me out for a spin in his and yes, I can confirm that some drivers allow this to be a huge distraction. He spent less time looking at the road than he did at the screen, playing with it. Terrifying, even with all the driver aids.

Why would this be an issue if the car is driving itself? It’s not a distraction even when the car isn’t taking over since you have a main screen HUD in the drivers dashboard

 

[xalea]

We have two cars now. I fully expect to be a single car family by 2022 and have a Lyft or Uber all-you-can-summon pass with a set amount of included miles monthly. It’s going to happen sooner than we think. One permanent SUV is all we’d need as a family, the summoned car would basically just take me the 10 minute ride to and from work.

Even the auto manufacturers know this. Why do you think so many of them are starting these ridiculous subscription services? Who do they really think is going to pay $2000-3000 a month to *not* own a vehicle? I guess it's a way to try out the service but if they don't get their gameplan together quick, they'll be sidelined by Uber-type subscription upstart companies.

 

[Rogifan]

If it’s anything like the Tesla cars it won’t be very good! I sat in one for the first time and I just thought cheap plastic everywhere, not very well made, and a ridiculous giant screen that’s not easy to use at all, not a patch on a phone, and it’s just a distraction as you have to use it for everything taking your eyes off the road. Overpriced dangerous rubbish I thought. It needs to drive itself just to you can adjust the aircon!

I hope he doesn’t do the same to this Apple project..

You think Doug Field made those decisions? Didn’t all of that exist before he came to Tesla? Perhaps he left because he didn’t agree with some of those decision?

 

[Squidish]

$ 10,000 corollas are the competition.

Base MSRP on a Corolla (and Civic) is now $19k......

 

[Rogifan]

No clue on what they are doing, but in Bob Mansfield, I trust.
(And, to keep Ive's skinny mantra away.)

The lone star in Apple's executive bin.

According to Matthew Panzarino lots of people at Apple are working on many projects related to automobiles. He also speculates that maybe Doug Field is coming back to take over from Mansfield as Mansfield wants to retire for real now.

 

[CarpalMac]

Why would this be an issue if the car is driving itself? It’s not a distraction even when the car isn’t taking over since you have a main screen HUD in the drivers dashboard

LOL, I don't even know where to begin with that sort of reply.

Ok, apparently I am wrong, a huge tablet in a car isn't a distraction, my bad. The car is (apparently) fully autonomous but that doesn't matter still, as the tablet isn't a distraction. Even if the tablet was a distraction (which you state it isn't), there are other displays to look at. That being the case, why even bother with the tablet then?

 

[1000 others]

Is overseeing production of the Tesla Model 3 supposed to be a recommendation?

No, actually, it is a warning to us consumers.

 

[Applebot1]

Oh, we'll see 3-5 years worth of rumors and analyst opinions (who's the one who kept insisting that Apple TV would have an actual screen?), we just won't see any official comment for 3-5 years.

A person called "Roly" what I remember on theses forums, just before Apple launched the first ATV.
It was a right uproar when this wasn't announced, what I remember and a witch hunt for Roly commenced lol

 

[TimmeyCook]

His comparison was fair game since he compared sedan with sedan .... would be different if sedan would be compared to SUV ...

I don't think so... SUVs and sedans are the same thing, do the same, cost the same, it's just a different body style.

 

[ke-iron]

Sneaky.

Tim: Hey Doug, why don't you go work for Tesla for a few years. Find out everything that they know, then come back to us?
Doug: Alrighty then.

Haha facts. I feel like he went there to learn the secrets and go back to Apple, like here’s what they do at Tesla, but... if we do it this way we can achieve a similar or better result and it’s technically different so we can patent it and not get sued lolol

 

[ipponrg]

The Apple Car project is clearly getting a lot of attention at Apple. You might not care, but this is one area in which Apple is sinking a ton of resources into, and it certainly bears watching.

Very useless in any metropolitan city that isn’t paved like the Bay Area or Irvine. Would be nice if they did tests in cities that really need it

 

[AirunJae]

Rather than solely developing autonomous systems for existing car manufacturers, Apple's rehiring of Field could indicate that the company still retains an interest in building its own vehicles.

Speculation that Apple would build an autonomous system for other car manufacturers always struck me as odd. Apple is all about owning the core technology and creating a top to bottom experience. Simply creating the core tech and then licensing/selling the system to someone else seems antithetical to how Apple typically operates.

 

[A MacBook lover]

LOL, I don't even know where to begin with that sort of reply.

Ok, apparently I am wrong, a huge tablet in a car isn't a distraction, my bad. The car is (apparently) fully autonomous but that doesn't matter still, as the tablet isn't a distraction. Even if the tablet was a distraction (which you state it isn't), there are other displays to look at. That being the case, why even bother with the tablet then?

Just like people whining about the notch, and no headphone jack?

You clearly have never driven one. You’re just like those trolls on here who criticize something they’ve never experienced owning.

Find one owner with autopilot that ever has an issue with the screen being a distraction.

Funny because almost everyone who steps in my car for the first time (people who have never even driven one) one of the first things they say is how the screen would be a distraction, but it isn’t. So I understand your point, as it’s a common thing said!

On the model 3 the main screen controls all functions, it’s a clean easy way to manage everything. Anything that’s important like AC/volume/autopilot can all be accessed from the sticks and button on the steering wheel.

 

[Bacillus]

Bacillus, totally agree. The forward-thinking automakers see Apple personified as Barbarians at the Gate, and would never secede strategic automation technology to a third party. (Check on Audi's e-tron development, as an example.)
What will be left are the dregs of contract manufacturing.
Nevertheless, on Bob Mansfield I trust. (And share your dislike for Tim Cook.)

Agree. But in the end Apple could buy any carmaker it wants (if it really wants to be in that market)
I would know a specific/innovative US-electric car company in severe need of cash but they have their own autopilot tech and quite an adverse attitude towards everything out there not theirs.
Interesting times to come...

The positive for Cook is that plans that do not exist can not be leaked.

 

[whooleytoo]

Sneaky.

Tim: Hey Doug, why don't you go work for Tesla for a few years. Find out everything that they know, then come back to us?
Doug: Alrighty then.

There used to be a joke (years ago, when I worked in Apple) that the best way to get a promotion in the company is to leave then be re-hired. Seems to be a thing at the higher levels of the company too.

 

[ChristianVirtual]

...well, maybe Apple will fix the keyboard steering-wheels too...
View attachment 775253

Will become a TouchBar ... fixed ...

 

[alfonsog]

Tesla has made all their stuff open source. All my friends with Tesla cars say they are the best car ever and will never buy anything else. As with most things once you’re used to the interface and displays it becomes second nature to use them. The lower priced model 3 is yet to be manufactured...

The first Apple car will probably be expensive in small volume as was the Tesla roadster but everyone here will buy it somehow....

 

[Rogifan]

Speculation that Apple would build an autonomous system for other car manufacturers always struck me as odd. Apple is all about own the core technology and creating a top to bottom experience. Simply creating the core tech and then licensing/selling the system to someone else seems antithetical to how Apple typically operates.

I think people said that because they didn’t/don’t think Apple could actually make a vehicle. Seems to me though the autonomous.self driving software platform would be way more difficult to build out than the vehicle chassis.

 

[Rogifan]

Agree. But in the end Apple could buy any carmaker it wants (if it really wants to be in that market)
I would know a specific/innovative US-electric car company in severe need of cash but they have their own autopilot tech and quite an adverse attitude towards everything out there not theirs.
Interesting times to come...

Apple would never acquire Tesla, they don’t want Musk. Probably a reason they didn’t acquire Nest too. Didn’t want Tony Fadell back. He certainly didn’t last long at Google.

 

[Bacillus]

Apple would never acquire Tesla, they don’t want Musk. Probably a reason they didn’t acquire Nest too. Didn’t want Tony Fadell back. He certainly didn’t last long at Google.

Sure thing - the intrinsic adversity from both sides.
But still Tesla needs money and Apple needs a carmaker, and the longer it takes, pressure will reach a cooking level for both. They may become convicted to each other. This might overshadow the current leadership and its “principles”

 

[usarioclave]

It'd be interesting to work for Mansfield. Maybe he's in-line for the CEO job? They brought him back because Tim needed someone to figure out what was happening at Project Titan, and Mansfield ended up whacking it.

 

[Rogifan]

Agree. There is intrinsic hate from both sides.
But still Tesla needs money and Apple needs a carmaker, and the longer it takes, pressure will reach a cooking level for both. They may become convicted to each other.

I think Apple can figure out how to build a car chassis. The fact that Musk is now obsessed with taking a Tesla private doesn’t give me a lot of confidence in the company. Dell went private because Wall Street viewed it only as a company making cheap PCs when the company was expanding into an enterprise services company. Now Michael Dell wants to go public again. Seems to me Musk wants to take Tesla private so he doesn’t have to answer hard questions from investors.