Former Lamborghini exec will help steer Apple car design team

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Apple's new hire worked on this model, a Lamborghini Huracan.
Apple's new hire worked on this model, a Lamborghini Huracan.
Photo: Lamborghini

A former Lamborghini executive recently joined Apple to lead design of the company’s long-rumored self-driving car, according to a new report Wednesday.

As Apple works toward releasing an electric vehicle before the end of this decade, the addition of Luigi Taraborrelli, who worked for the fabled Italian automaker for 20 years, could accelerate the project.

Former Lamborghini R&D and marketing exec will drive Apple car’s design team

Apple hired Taraborrelli to help lead the design team for its self-driving electric vehicle, according to a Bloomberg article.

While at Lamborghini, Taraborrelli worked mainly in the company’s research and development division. However, most recently he led chassis and vehicle dynamics for the company, as his LinkedIn profile indicates.

That more-recent role included quite a list of responsibilities:

Chassis Concept Development, Car Characteristic, Overall vehicle laptime performances, Vehicle Dynamics targets, Handling & ride Characteristic, Suspension elasto-kinematics, Car Objectivation, Virtual simulation, Software coding and in-vehicle Software parametrization and calibration activities, Functional safety, Product liability

Taraborrelli contributed to Lamborghini models like the Urus, Huracan and Aventador, Bloomberg said. Before that, he worked in marketing, vehicle development and validation, and more. Taraborrelli joined Lamborghini in October 2001 and left in May 2022.

Taraborrelli will be ‘one of the most senior managers’

The article indicates Taraborrelli will be “one of the most senior managers” on the Apple car team.

The not-so-secret project, known as Project Titan, has seen many stops, starts and shifts in recent years, along with lots of senior staff turnover. But Cupertino appears to want to ship a self-driving electric car — possibly with no steering wheel or brake pedal — in the next few years.

But recently, news of sweeping CarPlay updates led to speculation Apple might never even get to the point of manufacturing a car. Instead, it might just sell the increasingly advanced, CarPlay-based interface to automakers.

Apple VP Kevin Lynch currently leads the company’s car project after spearheading Apple Watch development. Lynch took over after Ford poached Doug Field in the fall of 2021.

 

 

 

 

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