Apple Car project head Doug Field leaves to join for Ford

Field joins Ford from Apple, where he served as VP, Special Projects. Before that, he was senior vice president, Engineering, at Tesla and he will report to Ford President and CEO Jim Farley.

San Francisco: The current head of Apple’s electric car project Doug Field is leaving the company for Ford.

Ford named Field as the company’s chief advanced technology and embedded systems officer.

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Field joins Ford from Apple, where he served as VP, Special Projects. Before that, he was senior vice president, Engineering, at Tesla and he will report to Ford President and CEO Jim Farley.

“Doug Field is one of the world’s most respected engineering and product design leaders and has been a driving force behind breakthrough products across auto, tech and mobility, including at Apple, Tesla and Segway,” Farley said in a statement.

Field will lead Ford’s Embedded Software and Hardware organization currently consisting of vehicle controls, enterprise connectivity, features, integration and validation, architecture platform, driver assistance technology and digital engineering tools.

Apple recently hired two former Mercedes engineers with experience in mass production of vehicles, steering, dynamics, software and project management.

These engineers are now working as product design engineers at Apple’s Special Projects Group, hired presumably for the ‘Apple Car’.

Reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo earlier claimed that the launch of Apple Car is unlikely to happen until 2025-2027.

In a research note, Kuo said that Apple Car specifications are yet to be finalised, adding that he would not be surprised if the vehicle’s launch timeframe is pushed even further to 2028 or later.