Ford Recruits Former Apple And Tesla Employees To Develop Autonomous Vehicles

Ford needs to hijack Apple employees to be able to develop their autonomous vehicles. (photo; doc. unsplash)

JAKARTA - Ford Motor Co. said Tuesday, September 7, that they had hired former Apple executive Doug Field as chief technology officer and embedded systems officer. Filed himself is the former head of car projects at the computer giant,

"Field's appointment effective Tuesday, he will report to Ford President and CEO Jim Farley", a source at Ford said in a statement.

Field's job was to lead the embedded software and hardware group for Ford. He will partner with Hau Thai-Tang, Ford's chief product platform, and operations officer, to create Ford's next generation of connected vehicle products and experiences.

Field returned to Ford after starting his career as a development engineer from 1987 to 1993. Previously, Field came to Apple from Tesla and was a key player on the Project Titan team as he served as VP of the dedicated team on Apple's autonomous vehicle project.

Tesla hired Field from Apple in 2013, but he returned to the computer company in 2018. This track record shows that Field is an important and trusted person to develop autonomous vehicles.

"Doug Field is one of the world's most respected engineering and product design leaders and has been a driving force behind breakthrough products in the automotive, technology, and mobility fields, including at Apple, Tesla, and Segway", said Farley.

Apple said in a statement that "we are grateful for the contribution Doug Filed has made to Apple and we wish him all the best in the next chapter".

This further confirms that a former employee is an important person in the development of self-driving technology at Apple. Ford hopes that by hiring Doug Field, they can develop autonomous vehicles to match Tesla or Apple.

Last week, Apple reportedly visited Asian suppliers and automakers to prepare for mass production of the Apple Car by 2024 amid a global shortage of chips and other components.

Wedbush analyst Dan Ives recently said he believes "2024 or 2025 is when you look at the Apple Car".