apple car turnover
1 year ago
Published June 2, 2021 by

Turnover in Apple Car team

From Mark Gurman's "Apple Loses Multiple Top Managers From Self-Driving Car Division" posted Wednesday on Bloomberg News:

Apple Inc. has lost multiple top managers of its self-driving car team in recent months, a sign of attrition at the division involved in what could become an important future product...

[There follow three examples of Apple engineers leaving to become, respectively, a chief engineer, a chief technology officer and a CEO.]

The iPhone maker has hundreds of engineers working on underlying self-driving car technology as well as groups of employees working on an actual vehicle, Bloomberg News has reported. Running the division is Doug Field, a former top vehicle engineer for Tesla Inc., along with a management team of fewer than a dozen executives. At least three members of that Apple car management team have departed this year.

Despite the recent departures, Apple has added notable names to the car team over the past few years, including former top Tesla executives in charge of drive systems and manufacturing engineering, car interiors and exteriors and self-driving software. The team also includes other car industry veterans and executives who have developed key Apple products.

My take: I imagine engineers with some Apple under their belt are in high demand. Sounds like these three guys got better offers.

10 Comments

  1. Gregg Thurman said:
    It is the very rare person that does not outlive his/her usefulness.

    New senior management brings a re-evaluation of a projects needs in order to keep a project moving forward.

    I wouldn’t read anything negative into Apple management shuffles, it’s a dance that began full force with Jobs’ return in ‘97.

    As senior management teams go Apple’s is very stable.

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    June 2, 2021
  2. Thomas Williams said:
    Steve Wozniak left Apple in 1981 and again in ’85. Outstanding products and services continue to be developed. These blokes interviewed and were hired for medical, AV safety and space applications of technology. This reveals something about recent experience they discussed in those successful job interviews.

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    June 2, 2021
  3. David Emery said:
    It’s interesting to me at least that 2 of those people went to safety-related startups.

    2
    June 2, 2021
  4. Daniel Epstein said:
    Reporters looking for patterns where there may just be movements. This project has had a lot of rumors about personnel over the years. Without knowing the scale of the endeavor or the potential release date it is likely just time for some people to take better offers or for some management shift. Is this a sign of attrition? Are these departures related? Does the author of the article know? Or does Bloomberg need an Apple article to keep people’s attention?

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    June 2, 2021
    • Gregg Thurman said:
      Does the author of the article know?

      NO

      Or does Bloomberg need an Apple article to keep people’s attention?

      Every day, of every week, of every month, of every year, so much so they make stuff up.

      How can you tell if a lawyer is lying? His lips are moving.

      How can you tell if the media is lying? The cameras/presses are running.

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      June 2, 2021
  5. John Konopka said:
    I think the industry standard attrition rate for high tech industries is something like 4-8%.

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    June 2, 2021
  6. Jerry Doyle said:
    What is the news here? Dave Scott who led teams leaves to become CEO at a company. Jaime Waydo who also led teams leaves to become CIO of a company. Benjamin Lyon moves up to a Chief Engineer’s position with another company. All these individuals’ moves were upward career movements. Apple has hundreds of engineers on its Apple car project and a management team of almost a dozen individuals. Meanwhile, Apple continues to add notable names to its car teams including former top Tesla executives and other industry veterans & executives who have developed key Apple products. Staff turnovers happen and when those turnovers are tied with career advancement positions then those turnovers can be expected. Apple always has excellent personnel available to fill the void and Apple knows how to recruit outstanding personnel. There is no story here.

    2
    June 2, 2021
    • Kirk DeBernardi said:
      Anything to prop up “Apple is doomed.”

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      June 2, 2021
  7. Michael Goldfeder said:
    Look at all of the assistant coaches that Bill Belichick lost over the years in New England who obtained head coaching positions elsewhere. The Patriots continued to win with other coaches being plugged into those open slots.

    Apple is no different with Tim Cook at the top.

    Yet for Gurman it’s always the day of doom and gloom over Cupertino.

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    June 2, 2021

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