As the Internet goes wild (with disgust and confusion) over a student-made concept of what an Apple car might look like, another hint points toward the tech behemoth gearing up for the real thing. Apple has reportedly hired Chris Porrit, former Tesla vice president of vehicle engineering, to work in the “special projects” group where an Apple car is supposedly being made.
Porritt cut his teeth in high-end automotive design and management as a chief engineer for Aston Martin, during which he designed vehicles like the Aston Martin DB9 and the One-77 supercar. At Tesla, he appears to have worked on the Model S and Model X platforms and on the chassis of the Model 3.
The report comes from a scoop by Electrek, and for now it seems to be simply a rumor, like a lot of the information surrounding Apple’s “Project Titan” car efforts. Porritt is believed to be headed to the “special projects” division, Apple’s secretive R&D branch for vehicle development and other next-generation work.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk is aware that Apple is tempting away his employees, but he doesn’t see them as rivals, or won’t admit it: Musk famously called Apple “the Tesla graveyard” for hiring people who “don’t make it at Tesla.” Apple has hired Tesla engineers before, but never someone this far up the executive chain.
The “concept car” posted by MotorTrend last week made the social media rounds, but it wasn’t a real Apple product: the publication brought in art students from ArtCenter College of Design to essentially pattern a car after an iPhone, resulting in the pill-shaped, two-tone pod-car.
