NEWS
NEWS
NEWS
Apple expands rumored electric car team, hires former Fiat Chrysler exec
A report Monday suggests that Apple is expanding the team working on its rumored electric car project with yet another veteran automotive expert hired to join the Cupertino, Calif.-based company.
According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, Doug Betts, who until recently served as global head of product and service quality at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), has joined Apple in an unspecified capacity.
Betts, who left FCA in November, last year, has updated his LinkedIn profile to reflect his new position. According to his profile, Betts joined Apple earlier this month and shows his title as “Operations – Apple Inc.” based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
It is unclear if Betts has been hired to work on Apple’s rumored electric car project or if he will be involved with one of Apple’s existing consumer electronics product lines.
The former seems more likely given Betts employment history and area of expertise.
Prior to his seven years at FCA, Betts served in various senior roles at Nissan Motors Manufacturing, Toyota Motors manufacturing, and Michelin.
This appears to be the latest in a series of automotive experts Apple has hired as of late. The report also claims Apple hired Paul Furgale, a highly-regarded autonomous vehicle researcher from Switzerland, earlier this year.
In February, The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple CEO Tim Cook approved the company’s electric car project in 2014 and has since assigned “several hundred” employees to a team led by product design Vice President Steve Zadesky, a former Ford executive.
In May, Apple settled a lawsuit filed by electric car battery maker A123 Systems claiming the iPhone maker poached A123 employees in an attempt to start its own large-scale battery division.
The report also highlights a poaching war between Apple and Tesla Motors Inc. where Apple reportedly hired employees away from the electric car maker for its own team. Speaking to analysts in May, Musk said he hoped Apple would enter the electric car market and pointed out that Tesla has hired five times as many Apple employees as Apple has hired Tesla employees.
According to a report from Bloomberg earlier this year, Apple plans to bring its own electric car to market as early as 2020.
Image credit: Automobile Italia | Flickr
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