Apple poached another Tesla engineer, fuelling more speculation about an Apple car
- Another senior Tesla engineer has just joined Apple.
- Andrew Kim worked on numerous Tesla vehicles including the Model 3, prompting speculation that Apple could be working once again on making cars.
- Apple hired chief Tesla engineer Doug Field back in August.
Apple has poached another senior Tesla engineer, fuelling speculation that it is once again working on a car of its own.
Andrew Kim, who made a name for himself at Microsoft working on products like the HoloLens and Xbox One S, was at Tesla for the past two years.
But as of December, he has been a designer at Apple, according to his LinkedIn page. An Instagram post from Kim at Apple park from last week also simply says "day 1."
The hire has sparked fresh speculation that Apple could be working on building a car. The Verge notes that Kim worked on the design of several Tesla vehicles, including the Model 3.
In August, Apple also re-hired Tesla engineer Doug Field to head up its self-driving car program. Apple reportedly shut down its teams working on car hardware back in 2016, and CEO Tim Cook told Bloomberg in June that the company was focussing on "autonomous systems" for self-driving cars.
Read more: Elon Musk says Tesla vehicles will soon be able to drive without any human input
However, the hiring of two senior Tesla engineers has sparked new speculation that its focus may not just be on software.
Kim and Field aren't the only Tesla staffers to have been poached by Apple. CNBC reported in August that Apple was hiring Tesla employees by the dozen, and not just for its self-driving car ambitions.
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