Apple has hired former Tesla engineer Christopher “CJ” Moore for its self-driving car project, reports Bloomberg.
According to sources familiar with the matter, Moore is working on Apple’s car project software, reporting to Stuart Bowers, a former Tesla executive that joined the iPhone maker at the end of 2020. Prior to working at Tesla, Bowers was in charge of the Autopilot team in mid-2019.
Earlier this year, Apple’s secretive self-driving car project, known as “Project Titan”, saw it lose its head depart to Ford.
When Moore worked at Tesla, he suggested CEO Elon Musk had overstated the abilities of Autopilot being fully autonomous by 2021. The comments were made when Moore was interviewed by the California Department of Motor Vehicles, as part of the latter’s investigation into Autopilot software.
Apple’s car projects recently saw Apple Watch software engineering lead, Kevin Lynch, move over to fill the void from Doug Field’s departure to Ford.
Other former Tesla employees working at Apple now include the electric automaker’s former drive trains chief Michael Schwekutsch and interiors head Steve MacManus.
Back in 2015, Elon Musk said Apple is a “Tesla graveyard”, where failed employees go when they can’t make it at the electric automaker.
“They have hired people we’ve fired. We always jokingly call Apple the ‘Tesla Graveyard’. If you don’t make it at Tesla, you go work at Apple. I’m not kidding,” said Musk to German newspaper, Handelsblatt.
When asked about Apple’s car ambitions in 2015, Musk replied, “Did you ever take a look at the Apple Watch?”.
He then added, “No, seriously: It’s good that Apple is moving and investing in this direction. But cars are very complex compared to phones or smartwatches. You can’t just go to a supplier like Foxconn and say: Build me a car.”
