Apple Car Team Loses Yet Another Key Employee as Turnover Continues

Apple has long been rumored to be planning an electric vehicle, but the team working on the project has reportedly faced many struggles over the years, including development challenges and the loss of some key employees.

Apple car wheel icon feature purple
One of the latest departures is CJ Moore, who has left Apple to join autonomous vehicle technology company Luminar. In a press release shared by Bloomberg, Luminar said Moore will lead the company's global software development team. Moore had served as a director of autonomous systems at Apple since August, after working on autopilot software at Tesla for nearly seven years, according to his LinkedIn profile.

The so-called "Apple Car" team has seen several departures and hires as turnover continues. Apple's director of machine learning Ian Goodfellow recently moved to Google, for example, while longtime Ford engineer Desi Ujkashevic joined Apple.

In late 2021, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported that Apple was aiming to develop an electric vehicle with full self-driving functionality that does not require human intervention, with the project being led by Apple executive Kevin Lynch. Gurman said Apple's ideal car would have no steering wheel and pedals for a hands-off driving experience. Apple's vehicle is expected to launch around 2025 at the earliest.

Popular Stories

iPhone 16 Pro Sizes Feature

iPhone 16 Launch Is Just One Month Out – Here's Everything We Know

Saturday August 10, 2024 5:00 am PDT by
Apple typically releases its new iPhone series in the fall, and a possible September 10 announcement date has been floated this year, which means we are just one month away from the launch of the iPhone 16. Like the iPhone 15 series, this year's lineup is expected to stick with four models – iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max – although there are plenty of design...
macbook pro bb cyber

Apple's M3 MacBook Pro Gets Up to $1,000 Off In Major New Sales, Starting at $1,299 [Updated]

Sunday August 11, 2024 1:54 pm PDT by
Apple's M3 MacBook Pro is seeing multiple high value discounts on Best Buy and Amazon today, with up to $1,000 off select models. This includes a new all-time low price on the entry-level M3 512GB 14-inch MacBook Pro at $1,299.00, down from $1,599.00, and a massive $1,000 discount on the high-end 16-inch model exclusively for Best Buy members. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Best...
iPhone 16 Pro Right Side Feature

The iPhone 16 is Getting a New Button: Here's What It Can Do

Tuesday August 13, 2024 4:01 pm PDT by
Multiple rumors have suggested that the iPhone 16 models are going to have an all-new button that's designed to make it easier to capture photos when the devices are held in landscape mode. Apple calls the button the Capture Button internally, and it is going to be one of the most advanced buttons that's been introduced to date with support for multiple gestures and the ability to respond to ...
iOS 18 on iPhone Feature

Everything New in iOS 18.1 Beta 2 and iOS 18 Beta 6

Monday August 12, 2024 2:32 pm PDT by
Apple is beta testing iOS 18 and the first update to iOS 18 concurrently, and we got the second betas of iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1 today alongside the sixth betas of iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia 15. Many of the changes in iOS 18.1 are focused on bringing the .1 betas in line with the standard betas, which recently received updates to Photos and Safari, while...
Beyond iPhone 13 Better Blue Face ID Single Camera Hole

10 Reasons to Wait for Next Year's iPhone 17

Thursday August 8, 2024 4:40 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we sometimes get rumored feature leaks so far ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different – already we have some idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup. If you plan to skip...
iPhone 17 Slim Feature Single Camera 2

Next Year's Slim iPhone 17 Could Be an 'iPhone Air'

Monday August 12, 2024 8:43 am PDT by
Apple's rumored iPhone 17 "Slim" could be positioned as an iPhone "Air" to boost sales, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. In the latest edition of his "Power On" newsletter, Gurman explained how the "fourth" model in the iPhone lineup since 2020 (the iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 14 Plus, and iPhone 15 Plus) has largely been a commercial failure. In the case of the Plus model,...

Top Rated Comments

peg27 Avatar
29 months ago
Ford will be making mobile phones before Apple are making cars.
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
antnythr Avatar
29 months ago
The guy left Apple after less than a year. Sounds like a dumpster fire at Apple with so many big names leaving.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JPack Avatar
29 months ago

To be honest, anyone who is a former Tesla autopilot engineer probably isn't the best hire. How late is that tech now?
Just because Musk makes unrealistic promises doesn't somehow make every AP engineer in the company a poor hire.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TheYayAreaLiving ?️ Avatar
29 months ago
SMH! What a disaster. Every week we're getting news like this. This, Apple car project may not be exciting to work with anymore.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
6787872 Avatar
29 months ago
tim cook is the steve balmer of apple. they both raised stock and profit but are completely uninspired and have no direction. hope he retires soon.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Apple Knowledge Navigator Avatar
29 months ago
Turns out he was after Moore money…
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)