The head of the robotics team, Dave Scott, has left the “Apple Car” project, marking the third major departure from the project since early 2021.
See also: Apple to employees: From September you will return to the office three times a week
Dave Scott, a member of Apple's SPG (Special Projects Group), was said to have been involved with the "Apple Car." However, he left the company in May 2021 to become president and CEO of healthcare Hyperfine.
According to Bloomberg, Scott's departure is a blow to the Apple car team, as it follows the departures of two other executives. The two former executives left the company in February.
Jaime Waydo was a senior manager at Apple and is believed to have worked in the automotive safety field. She now works in the same field, as Chief Technology Officer, at transportation company Cavnue.
See also: Ford adds "hands-free" Alexa to new cars
On the other hand, Benjamin Lyon is now Chief Engineer and Executive Vice President of Engineering at Astra. He was reportedly one of the first members of the original “Project Titan” car project at Apple, but left in February 2021.
This is not the first time Bloomberg has reported that staff departures are causing problems for the “Apple Car.”.
Steve Zadesky had been involved with the car project until his departure in 2016. He was replaced by former Apple executive Bob Mansfield, who had retired to perform special projects for the company.
It is not known how many executives or team leaders there are on the “Apple Car” project. It has been repeatedly reported that Apple has hundreds of people working on it.
Apple is said to have been working on the car project since at least 2014 and recently began negotiations with automakers to build a vehicle. Talks had been held with Kia-Hyundai but no deal was reached.
See also: Hyundai & Kia for “Apple Car”: Talks with Apple have stopped
Some analysts had predicted that Apple would announce a partnership with an automaker in the first half of 2021. However, others expect it to happen between 2025-2028 or never.
Source: AppleInsider
