Mike Wuerthele
Porsche's race program lead, Alexander Hitzinger, was allegedly brought on to Apple's "Project Titan" car program in the spring of 2016, a new report reveals.
The report, first made by German publication Manager Magazin claims that Hitzinger departed to do something "which has a significant and direct impact on society." Hitzinger's LinkedIn profile confirms his departure from Porsche in March, and notes that he joined a "technology company" in San Francisco in April.
From 2006 to 2011 Hitzinger worked as Head of Advanced Technologies for Red Bull Technology. From mid-2006 to mid-2007 he also filled the role of Technical Director of the Scuderia Toro Rosso Formula One team. Since 2011, Hitzinger has been Technical Director of the Porsche LMP1 project.
While at Porsche, Hitzinger returned the company to endurance racing, and assisted in development of the 919 hybrid sports car. Hitzinger's command led the company to Le Mans and endurance racing world championships in 2015 and 2016.
"Project Titan," Apple's car project, was reportedly staffed by more than 1,000 engineers and other personnel working out of top secret labs in Sunnyvale, Calif., some of whom were pulled from other consumer product teams.
"Project Titan" also appears to have run into trouble last September when sources said top executives expressed displeasure with the group's slow progress. Subsequent reports indicated the team faced mounting unforeseen obstacles that ultimately culminated in the axing of dozens of employees.
According to the most recent rumblings, Apple has pivoted away from a full-fledged self-driving car platform and is now focusing on the development of autonomous vehicle software and supporting hardware. Interestingly, Apple's driverless product, if it ever materializes, might intersect with the company's augmented reality initiative. In October, reports claimed Apple is currently testing AR-based navigation and other autonomous vehicle solutions using virtual reality simulators.
Closer to Hitzinger's specialty, officials from Apple met with premium automaker McLaren to discuss a purchase, but the discussions never went as far as a bid, according to McLaren's CEO.
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24 Comments
Purely on instinct I can tell with a great deal of confidence the stories that Apple have pivoted away from making an actual car are untrue. Why? It makes no sense to develop a self-drive software operating platform for a car without a car to use it on and no car company would give Apple that ability and Apple wouldn't want it. These "stories" are I would say ideal for Apple as it allows them to push on as the press go for these red-herrings—then 2020 is considered early. Every product will have bumps in the road to release, an autonomous electric Apple car would certainly be no exception. Dozens of people from over 1,000 leaves a lot of people remaining (1,050 minus four-dozen is 1,002 people). And we never had proof dozens were fired to begin with.
P.S. Whomever re-capitalised the "I" in my username, I thank you.
I never bought into them abandoning the project, only making it a higher priority; and thus more obscure and top secret.
"While at Porsche, Hitzinger returned the company to endurance racing, and assisted in development of the 919 hybrid sports car. Hitzinger's command led the company to Le Mans and endurance racing world championships in 2015 and 2016."
The Porsche 919 is a great car, with both a gasoline engine and an electric motor. I drove one. That is, I drove the 919 at Real Racing 3, on AppleTV.
I'll be interesting to see how & when Apple publicly acknowledges this project. Given the need for extensive road-testing of the product in a wide variety of circumstances, I imagine that Apple won't be able to keep it under wraps until the last moment (within months of release) as they do with personal devices.
By this time he could have come and gone.