The Apple car project continues to see its staff shift and depart, it appears, with the latest seeing a manager depart for a lidar startup instead.
Former Apple Car Manager CJ Moore has been hired to lead global software development at Luminar, according to Bloomberg, after working on the car project for less than year.
Moore previously served as a Director of Autopilot at Tesla.
In his new position, Moore will be in charge of helping Luminar’s software team develop autonomous safety features using its lidar technology, according to a statement from the company on Wednesday.
Mercedes Acquires Stake in Luminar, Taps Lidar Sensors for Future Cars https://t.co/r7l8z2nGF3
— TeslaNorth.com (@RealTeslaNorth) January 20, 2022
Luminar went public in 2020 through a $3.4 billion reverse merger, and is expected to provide its laser sensors for autonomous driving applications.
The company has already inked deals with Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, and SAIC Motor Corporation.
The news is the latest of many departures of high-ranking officials, including former Apple Car Chief Doug Field, who left the company last year for Ford.
Another former member of the Apple Car team, Ian Goodfellow, left the company earlier this month the join Alphabet’s DeepMind.
Apple’s self-driving car program added more test drivers as recently as March, and it recently added former Ford veteran Desi Ujkashevic. It appears “Project Titan” is still far away, as previous reports indicate a vehicle won’t emerge until at least five years from now.
