An executive with responsibility for Apple’s secretive car project has left for Ford in a stinging departure that potentially spells the end of the iPhone maker’s automotive ambitions.
Doug Field, who joined Apple in 2018 as vice-president for special projects from Tesla, will become Ford’s chief advanced technology and embedded systems officer with immediate effect, the Michigan-based carmaker announced on Tuesday.
Field will lead Ford’s development of its cloud-based platform for a next generation of connected vehicles and report directly to chief executive Jim Farley.
“It’s a blow to Apple’s ambitions on the automotive front,” said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives. “For Ford, it’s a coup.”
Field declined to comment on whether his departure signalled the end of the iPhone maker’s automotive ambitions. People at Apple working on the project were briefed on his move shortly after Ford’s announcement, said two people familiar with the matter.
The departure is a setback for Titan, the Apple car project that dates back to 2014 and has been subject to numerous changes in strategy and personnel, including three major moves earlier this year.
In February one of the project’s founders, Benjamin Lyon, left Apple after more than two decades for rocket start-up Astra. Jaime Waydo, a former Google self-driving project engineer who led Titan’s autonomous group, left for the connected roads start-up Cavnue. And Dave Scott, head of Titan’s robotics team, left in May to lead the medical device group Hyperfine.
All three reported to Field, who ran day-to-day operations of the Apple Car project. Field reported to John Giannandrea, Apple’s head of artificial intelligence and machine learning, the division that oversees the car project.