The Apple Car has faced another setback, with the loss of another engineering manager from the vehicle project to Meta.
It’s no secret that Apple employees have been coming and going from the long-rumored Car project. A recent report also found out that the head of software engineering for the Apple Car has left.
Joe Bass was the Lead Engineering Program Manager for Autonomous Systems at Apple since January 2015. As spotted by Mark Gurman in Bloomberg’s “Power On” newsletter, he has now left the company for a new position.
Soon after leaving Apple, he took a new job as director of technical program management at Meta. His main focus will be on mixed reality technology there.
The bass player left the band after a number of other engineers left the company in December.
Initially, one senior director of engineering for the Special Projects Group left for the electric plane startup Archer Aviation, shortly to be followed by two more at the same company. One other individual left for Joby Aviation.
While it’s speculated that Apple will ship their first electric car in 2025, they are thought to be teaming up with an electric vehicle company sometime in 2022. This might pave the way for Apple Cars’ future.
Even with the recent high-profile departure from Apple’s team, it is still plausible for a launch date of an Apple Car to stay on schedule to meet forecasts.
