Apple Hires Former Tesla Engineer With Expertise in Prototyping Car Parts

As work on its car project progresses, Apple has been snapping up a huge number of employees with expertise in the automotive industry from companies like Tesla, Ford, GM, Volkswagen, Bosch, and more, along with researchers who have expertise in autonomous vehicles and electric car platforms.

Each of these hires gives us a glimpse into the ideas Apple is potentially exploring for its Apple Car, and a set of recent hires suggests Apple is hard at work prototyping car parts designed for the project as research continues.

carsilhouette
Former Tesla employee David Masiukiewicz recently left Tesla to join Apple, reports 9to5Mac. At Tesla, Masiukiewicz was a Senior CNC programmer who worked on hardware prototyping, and at Apple, he's listed as a "Senior Model Maker" in the "Product Realization Lab" where Apple prototypes new parts and designs for the Mac, iPhone, and iPad. His job description gives hints as to what he produced for Tesla:

Precision 5 axis CNC machining of powertrain, suspension and chasis components using CATIA v5 and Openmind hyperMILL software. Programming of Mill/Turn equipment using Esprit.

In response to a question about why he left Tesla for Apple on one of his social media sites, Masiukiewicz declined to give details but said "Apple provided me with many compelling reasons to come work for them."

Kevin Harvey, who joined Apple last year after working in the CNC machine shop at Andretti Autosport, is also working in the Product Realization Lab. Neither Harvey nor Masiukiewicz are confirmed to be working on Apple's car project, but given their previous expertise, it's highly likely their roles at Apple are car related rather than focused on prototyping future iPhones and iPads.

Today's hiring news comes following a report earlier this week suggesting former Tesla vice president Chris Porritt has left the company to join Apple, perhaps for a key role developing the Apple Car.

Tag: Tesla

Top Rated Comments

Gawjuz Avatar
105 months ago

"Apple provided me with many compelling reasons to come work for them."
"They gave me a buttload of money!"
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Markoth Avatar
105 months ago
Probably Apple's worst-kept secret ever.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BeefCake 15 Avatar
105 months ago
Let's wait Musk's response of how that engineer was terrible and that's why he went to Apple...
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
SusanK Avatar
105 months ago
Can't imagine buying a car from Apple. Back to the 2 year trade in cycle of the 1950's.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dguisinger Avatar
105 months ago
I still don't understand the appeal of an Apple car at all. Or why Apple thinks they'd be good getting into a highly competitive industry that can't support more than a handful of brands, all of which are established... Same problem Tesla has had. Maybe I'm wrong, but I just don't see myself buying an Apple car.... hey Apple, how about some good product updates? I just don't see them upsetting the apple cart... with their apple cart.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mburkhard Avatar
105 months ago
Why would we need a car from Apple? I mean, really! Why can't they go back to doing what they did best: Amazing desktop and laptop computers! They are (or rather were) top class in that field... Why, FFS, do they let this die slowly and get themselves into something that is well occupied already with brilliant products from VW, BMW, Mercedes, Volvo, Jaguar... I just don't get it. Oh yeah and once they were amazing in software development too... Oh how I miss the old Apple days. Now it's cars...
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

Apple Silicon AI Optimized Feature Siri

Apple Releases Open Source AI Models That Run On-Device

Wednesday April 24, 2024 3:39 pm PDT by
Apple today released several open source large language models (LLMs) that are designed to run on-device rather than through cloud servers. Called OpenELM (Open-source Efficient Language Models), the LLMs are available on the Hugging Face Hub, a community for sharing AI code. As outlined in a white paper [PDF], there are eight total OpenELM models, four of which were pre-trained using the...
iOS 18 Siri Integrated Feature

iOS 18 Rumored to Add These 10 New Features to Your iPhone

Wednesday April 24, 2024 2:05 pm PDT by
Apple is set to unveil iOS 18 during its WWDC keynote on June 10, so the software update is a little over six weeks away from being announced. Below, we recap rumored features and changes planned for the iPhone with iOS 18. iOS 18 will reportedly be the "biggest" update in the iPhone's history, with new ChatGPT-inspired generative AI features, a more customizable Home Screen, and much more....
maxresdefault

Apple Announces 'Let Loose' Event on May 7 Amid Rumors of New iPads

Tuesday April 23, 2024 7:11 am PDT by
Apple has announced it will be holding a special event on Tuesday, May 7 at 7 a.m. Pacific Time (10 a.m. Eastern Time), with a live stream to be available on Apple.com and on YouTube as usual. The event invitation has a tagline of "Let Loose" and shows an artistic render of an Apple Pencil, suggesting that iPads will be a focus of the event. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more ...
Apple Vision Pro Dual Loop Band Orange Feature 2

Apple Cuts Vision Pro Shipments as Demand Falls 'Sharply Beyond Expectations'

Tuesday April 23, 2024 9:44 am PDT by
Apple has dropped the number of Vision Pro units that it plans to ship in 2024, going from an expected 700 to 800k units to just 400k to 450k units, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Orders have been scaled back before the Vision Pro has launched in markets outside of the United States, which Kuo says is a sign that demand in the U.S. has "fallen sharply beyond expectations." As a...
iPad And Calculator App Feature 1

Apple Finally Plans to Release a Calculator App for iPad Later This Year

Tuesday April 23, 2024 9:08 am PDT by
Apple is finally planning a Calculator app for the iPad, over 14 years after launching the device, according to a source familiar with the matter. iPadOS 18 will include a built-in Calculator app for all iPad models that are compatible with the software update, which is expected to be unveiled during the opening keynote of Apple's annual developers conference WWDC on June 10. AppleInsider...
macbook pro purple february

Best Buy Introduces Record Low Prices on Apple's M3 MacBook Pro for Members

Thursday April 25, 2024 7:41 am PDT by
Best Buy is discounting a collection of M3 MacBook Pro computers today, this time focusing on the 14-inch version of the laptop. Every deal in this sale requires you to have a My Best Buy Plus or Total membership, although non-members can still get solid second-best prices on these MacBook Pro models. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Best Buy. When you click a link and make a...