Apple continues to gobble up tech talent for its secretive autonomous automotive project. There have been new hirings inside Apple that range from technology-focused folks to those with expertise in the automotive industry. According to a recent Reuters reports, the latest bit of hiring shows that Jamie Carlson has jumped ship from Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] to join the Apple team.
Carlson joins a team filled with people who know their way around the world of autonomous driving. Team members have been pulled from Volkswagen, Nvidia, BMW, Bosch, Delphi, TRW, and ZF, just to name a few. Carlson was working the Tesla Autopilot system, which is set to begin beta testing with Model S owners very soon.
The Apple car program remains mysterious. It's clear that the company is focusing on the autonomous side of the automotive equation, however, due to all of the recent employees its poached or picked up from around the globe. An Apple car would be a very interesting prospect in the marketplace, as the younger generations seem to shy away from driving while adoring anything shiny and metal offered up by the tech giant.
Apple would join a number of other automakers in the rush to bring an autonomous vehicle to the consumer marketplace. Audi has been testing its autonomous driving system, and most recently sent a self-driving A7 sedan from San Francisco to Las Vegas. Google also has its self-driving machines chewing up many thousands of test miles.
The autonomous race is on, and Apple is making sure it fields a top-tier team.
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