Last week we saw multiple reports that Apple is working on an electric car.
Tim Cook reportedly gave the project the green light a year ago. It's called Project Titan and is led by Steve Zadesky, who oversaw the creation of the iPod and iPhone, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Here's what we know about him:
- Zadesky has been given permission to assemble an 1,000-person team to work on Apple's car. He's allowed to poach employees from inside the company. His team is working on the car in a secret facility near Apple's HQ in Cupertino, according to the Journal.
- Zadesky has been making trips to Austria, possibly to look for a car manufacturer, according to the Financial Times.
- He has experience in the automotive industry. His first job was at Ford, where he was an engineer from 1996-1999.
- He joined Apple in 1999 to work on the iPod. Here's one of his patents for what looks like a first-gen iPod:
- After working on the iPod, Zadesky shifted his attention to the iPhone. Here's his patent for a "wireless handheld electronic device" that looks exactly like the original iPhone:
- His name is on some other interesting patents, like this one for a wireless charging station and this one for an electronic device to provide tacticle feedback.
- He's the sole Apple signatory on a 2010 business contract with LiquidMetal, which has developed a metal material that is moldable like plastic. About a year ago, a joint team of Apple and LiquidMetal employees filed a bunch of patents that seem to be related to displays in consumer electronics devices. According to Bloomberg, LiquidMetal's technology had not found their way into any Apple products as of September 2014.
- He's been working on the iPod and iPhone since day one: "At Apple I have been lucky enough to help build and lead the teams for the first iPod, first iPhone, all subsequent iPhones and iPods as well as hundreds of Apple branded accessory products," he said on LinkedIn.
- According to an org chart published in a 2011 Fortune article, Zadesky reported to Bob Mansfield, Apple's head of hardware engineering. In summer 2013, Mansfield moved into a new role supervising special projects, reporting directly to Tim Cook. More recent org charts have Zadesky reporting to design chief Jony Ive.
- Zadesky went to UC Berkeley for undergrad where he recieved a bachelor's in mechanical engineering in 1995. After that he went to Stanford for his master's, also in mechanical engineering.
- He's on Berkeley's Mechanical Engineering External Advisory Board. The board gives non-binding advice on Berkeley's mechanical engineering program.
Overall, it seems that Zadesky has kept a pretty low profile - like a lot of Apple executives.