Apple’s self-driving car project loses three key engineers as iPhone maker chases ‘next big thing’

Eric Rogers, billed as Apple’s chief engineer for radar systems on the project, left for flying-taxi start-up Joby Aviation Inc in recent weeks. Alex Clarabut, an engineering manager for the team’s battery systems group, joined Archer Aviation Inc, another company working to develop air taxis.

Stephen Spiteri, an Apple hardware engineering manager, left to join Archer as well. Joby and Archer confirmed the appointments, which underscore a push by aviation start-ups to nab Silicon Valley talent. An Apple spokesman declined to comment.

The exodus shows the challenges Apple faces in expands into a new industry. A self-driving car could represent a massive new sales opportunity for the tech giant – one of its famous “next big things” – but perfecting such technology has bedevilled engineers for years. And the seven-year-old project has been marked by frequent turnover and strategy shifts, along with rivals poaching its talent.

The latest defections follow the loss of at least six members of the project’s management team this year, including its former head, Doug Field. A key recent departure was Michael Schwekutsch, who had led hardware engineering for the effort. Schwekutsch also joined Archer, where he serves as a senior vice-president.

Other former employees have joined car start-ups such as Rivian Automotive Inc, an Irvine, California-based automaker that held the year’s biggest initial public offering last month.

At the same time, Apple has made some key hires this year. That includes Urlich Kranz, who previously led self-driving car start-up Canoo and electric vehicle development at BMW, and CJ Moore, a former self-driving software director at Tesla Inc.