If you are to believe the ongoing rumors around the upcoming Apple electric car that is still under making, Apple has hired Luigi Taraborrelli. Apple Inc. is in the middle of the long-going hustle to get the apple car on the floors before this decade comes to an end. Luigi Taraborrelli is a veteran engineer of Lamborghini, who has been helping his previous company design and develop supercars.
Many are looking at this news as a clear sign that Apple is upping its game in the electric cars segment. However, no one wants to get named sharing this huge news to the media about the Taraborrelli’s entry into Apple’s fleet.
Who Is Luigi Taraborrelli?
Luigi Taraborrelli is an engineer who was heading the research and development of the head of chassis and vehicle dynamics department at Lamborghini. He helped the company develop a sports car with his incredible set of technical and managerial skills. He is known for his excellence on a few limited series projects like the Lamborghini Sterrato.
Luigi has worked on some popular dynamic vehicle designs like Huracan, Urus, and Aventador. He has done remarkable work on limited edition models of Huracan and the concept car Asterion. His work behind the technical aspects and design dynamics of the Huracan coupe are noteworthy. Moreover, he was heading the chassis development along with suspension, rim, brakes, and steering
There is no strong information about what role Apple might have hired him to work for in the company but it looks like Apple is becoming more persistent and serious about their debut electric car. Luigi left Lamborghini in May 2022, after working there for just four months shy of 21 years according to his LinkedIn profile.
Apple’s Progress On The Apple Car
Tim Cook, CEO of Apple is said to have first announced their take on building a smart electric car in 2014. However, the announcement news was the only thing that ever saw the day of light as there is not much that Apple has to show so far. Apple’s oh-so-secret take on their first electric car project named Project Titan is a famous tale in Silicon Valley. Simply because there is no car made so far.
According to the statements made by some of the senior employees of the company, Steve Jobs had a keen interest in making a car. Mickey Drexler, the co-founder of Apple had also said that the concept to build a car was doing the round around the time Tesla came up with their first car in 2008.
No one for sure knows how far Apple has come to get the car right. There is just so much that has happened in the last decade to get a car up and running along with other competing automobiles. The timeline of the possible Apple car tells us something like this:
2014
The rumor that Apple is working on their autonomous car project begins as the Project Titan is approved by Tim Cook. Apple asked their Vice President and former Ford engineer Steve Zadesky to head the project. Around the same time, Apple was also rumored to nab very senior employees for the project including one from Mercedes-Benz as well.
2015
The rumors stated that a large number of Apple’s employees were said to start working on the project. Reports even mentioned that Apple even offered incentives to Tesla employees to leave Tesla and join Apple’s car project. The Wall Street Journal wrote that the car might be a minivan while The Sydney Morning Herald mentioned the production to begin in 2020. Tim Cook too mentioned in a statement that there is going to be a massive change in the car industry.
2016
The year 2016 passed for Apple as another roller-coaster ride as the company was reported to lay off and rehire several employees. Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla said, “It’s pretty hard to hide something if you hire over a thousand engineers to do it.” In another report, Magna International was said to be working as a contract manufacturer at the Sunnyvale lab facility of Apple.
2017
With no new news, around April, Apple car news again started doing the rounds after the permission to test autonomous vehicles was granted to Apple. Tim Cook said in an interview that the company is focusing more on autonomous systems leaving everyone to wonder if only there is any car to come in the future.
2018
The year began with Apple registering around 27 self-drive vehicles at DMV, California. After a failed partnership with Mercedes-Benz, BMW, BYD Auto, Nissan, and McLaren, Apple finally joined hands with Volkswagen to work on an autonomous shuttle. A former Apple Project Titan employee was reportedly arrested by the FBI as he was accused to steal trade secrets. BBC even reported that the company has registered 66 autonomous cars along with 111 drivers registered to drive them.
2019
Another year of huge lay-offs from the autonomous vehicle team as Apple asked 200+ employees from Project Titan, and yes, Apple acquires Drive.ai, another self-driving vehicle startup.
2020
Reuters gives a hint of a possible launch of the Apple car in 2024, as two insiders give an anonymous tip.
2021
Korea Economic Daily claims that Apple is seeking a joint venture with Hyundai. However, later Hyundai denied any talks. The whole year went with the assumptions and speculations of tie-up with many Japanese automobile makers.
2022
A few key hires for Project Titan include software executives Kevin Lynch and Ford’s Desi Ujkashevic. The recent addition of Luigi makes him the most senior executive member of the project.
Why Apple Is Keeping It All Secret?
The Apple car is going to be having state-of-the-art limo-like interiors along with fully autonomous technology. Apple plans to make it a very hi-tech vehicle with the capacity to perform exceptionally well compared to its prominent competitors. However, there has been not a single sign that the apple car would ever see a day’s light. Moreover, there is no news from Apple’s newsroom about its possible launch date as well. Yes, the tentative dates of launch in 2024 or 2025 do make the rounds but let’s be honest, who knows?
Apple car or the Project Titan also got so much negative publicity right from the beginning. Apple’s early test cars which actually are some modified versions of Lexus SUVs performed terribly in their test runs. However, one thing to note here is Apple is not testing their vehicles but only the LiDAR and other hardware equipment.
With recent accidents and troubles, the worries are never-ending. Recently the test vehicle from Apple car almost hit a jogger on the road. Nevertheless, this sounds like a setback for Apple and is very much a reason why Apple keeps everything under wraps.
What To Expect In Near Future?
The newest addition of Luigi Taraborrelli to Apple’s Project Titan just might be the right thing for the company to do right now. Taraborrelli’s expertise working at Lamborghini on the best sports cars can help Apple realize its objectives to make some incredible vehicles. So many years have gone by, and there is no concrete shape and size of the possible Apple car. It would be interesting to see what new can happen at Apple with the changes!
If Apple builds a car, that would be fantastic, but knowing Apple, it will require a different charger and updates will make the car obsolete after four years.
Can you imagine the price of a vehicle built by apple with engineers from Lamborghini and a limo like interior?
It sounds just like Hyundai they hired a designer from Audi and now they believe they are Audi. Lol.