Doug Field, a former Vice President of Mac Hardware Engineering at Apple, has returned to the company after spending several years at Tesla.
The interesting part? At Tesla, Field was employed as the Vice President of Vehicle Programs with a role overseeing development of new electric vehicles for the company. Now that he is back at Apple, he is reportedly working as part of the “Project Titan” Apple Car group.
Field’s return was confirmed to Daring Fireball writer John Gruber by Apple spokesperson Tom Neumayr. At Apple, he is working with Project Titan project lead Bob Mansfield, with whom he previously worked on Mac hardware.
“I wouldn’t read too much into any single hire, and the employee exchange program between Apple and Tesla continues to flow in both directions. But I think it’s an interesting hire, primarily because it suggests to me that Apple still has an interest in making actual vehicles, despite reports that the company has scaled back the project to merely make autonomous systems for inclusion in vehicles made by other companies.”
Apple Car is back on track
After seemingly going through a rough patch, the hire lends more weight to the idea that Project Titan is back on track.
Recently, a report from the FBI — investigating the theft of Apple Car plans by an ex-employee — suggested that Apple has 5,000 people working on the project. Well, we guess 5,001 now!
