- Kyle Chua
Apple Hires Veteran Ford Engineer To Develop Long-Rumoured Electric Car
Apple is said to be ramping up the development of its long-rumoured electric car project, recruiting a veteran Ford engineer to oversee the work.
According to a new report by Bloomberg, Desi Ujkashevic, who was Ford's Global Director of Automotive Safety Engineering since March of this year, has been hired by the California company. Ujkashevic was in charge of overseeing the global body engineering team, the safety engineering team for Ford of Europe and the global design technical operations division in her time with the American automaker. She has also worked in the company's vehicle engineering, testing and durability and electric vehicle divisions. Additionally, she has helped the company navigate through regulatory issues with vehicles.
"I wanted to share with my LinkedIn Community that I have marked the end of my wonderful career with Ford Motor Company and a new beginning into my next chapter," wrote Ujkashevic in her LinkedIn page last month, not indicating where she was headed next.
Apple has reportedly been developing its own autonomous electric vehicle since 2014, codenamed "Project Titan". Over 1,000 automotive experts and engineers were part of the initial team in charge of the project in a secret location near the company's Cupertino headquarters. The development, however, seemed troubled, shifting multiple times due to internal conflicts and leadership issues. To the point that in 2016, rumours hinted that the project had already been scrapped.
But this report of a new hire seems to now indicate that Apple is resuming development on the project, corroborating 2020 reports claiming that it was indeed back on. And the company is perhaps not only continuing work but also ramping it up.
Apple is said to be ramping up the development of its long-rumoured electric car project, recruiting a veteran Ford engineer to oversee the work.
Desi Ujkashevic was Ford's Global Director of Automotive Safety Engineering since March of this year and has helped the company navigate through regulatory issues with vehicles.
The new hire seems to suggest that Apple is indeed continuing development of its self-driving electric vehicle after rumours suggested that the project was scrapped in 2016.