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Apple Veteran Overseeing Electric-Car Project Leaving Company
- vskarine 11y agoskip paywall: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiJrvqq1L7KAhUUSmMKHStNAlUQqQIIHDAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wsj.com%2Farticles%2Fapple-veteran-overseeing-electric-car-project-leaving-company-1453505241&usg=AFQjCNG4nvpIDHRwWfmk5lbZZfPUHqGrPg&sig2=78SELzcTR2YWT_6uB8S0pA&bvm=bv.112454388,d.cGc https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&c...
- tyre 11y agoThe "web" link below the title links there.
- eridius 11y agoThe "web" link just links to a google search for the phrase "Apple Veteran Overseeing Electric-Car Project Leaving Company". At the moment Google is surfacing the WSJ article as the first link in a section called "In the news", but that may not be true for anyone looking at this story in the future.
- mikeyouse 11y agoFor every article I've ever tried, entering the exact phrase of the WSJ article results in the top Google result being the article in question. I think it's pretty safe given WSJ's SEO work.
- dredmorbius 11y agoAnd for virtually every WSJ post to HN, I cannot access copy via Google search. HN don't take kindly to flagging. But really, either play social or go home.
- jrockway 11y agoIf you really enjoy reading the WSJ, you could just pay for it, you know. Then no "hacks" are necessary.
- dredmorbius 11y agoIf WSJ want to restrict readership to subscribers only, there's no need to feed them hits via social platforms. There's a quid pro quo here. And no, actually, I'm not interested in supporting Murdoch/NewsCorp in the least.
- nikdaheratik 11y agoBut who is to say that "in the future" another more recent article may be more relevant to they're looking for?
- Animats 11y agoAny indication of Apple talking to manufacturing companies in China about building cars?
- thorpus 11y agoHaven't seen any indication. Likely still too early.
- ksec 11y agoHighly unlikely, producing a phone is very different to producing a car. Car manufacturing line is extremely automated. It is highly likely that Apple will built its plant in US.
- eslaught 11y agoSorry for being a noob, but if car manufacturing can be automated like this, why can't phones be automated in the same way?
- jonah 11y agoI'd venture to guess that the level of automation in phone and car manufacturing is comparable.
- AndrewKemendo 11y agoHumans are cheaper than robots for things the size of a phone. You would need a lot of humans to pick up and move a unibody car frame so the economics and ergonomics don't work out the same.
- Animats 11y agoThey can be, and have been. Motorola and Nokia had very automated production facilities.[1] Even Foxconn in Shentzen is converting to automated assembly. Iphones were not originally designed for easy automated assembly; early ones had internal discrete wires which had to be soldered. Newer ones use custom flexible printed wiring, which is more suited to automated assembly. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-fLzrTVQjg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-fLzrTVQjg
- at-fates-hands 11y agoNever a good sign of someone like this leaving the company, regardless of the reason. I would probably say he's either burned out or was tasked with something that he feels the company can't deliver on and has decided to just cut bait and move on. I'm sure it will be spun by Apple's PR as a "mutual" parting of the ways and something about "leaving to focus more on his family". A few years from now, we'll get a clearer picture. Even in the article they mentioned unrealistic time lines. I'm still not sure how I feel about Apple getting into electric cars. It's kind of like your favorite metal band suddenly decides to make pop music.
- fossuser 11y agoIt's not totally unprecedented for them. They got into music, then they got into phones. It seems like they get into a new area when that area stops being what it was and starts becoming computers. I think autonomous cars are probably going to be like that, Apple certainly has the capital to pull it off (and the example of Tesla).
- threeseed 11y agoThe article says it was for personal reasons. It does happen you know. Family or friends get sick, pass away etc.
- mbreese 11y ago> Never a good sign of someone like this leaving the company, regardless of the reason. I wouldn't necessarily read more into it. The article states that this person was with Apple for 16 years and worked on iPhones/iPods before the car project. 16 years is a long time, so it could legitimately be personal reasons. I'd feel differently if this was someone they poached from Tesla or Detroit specifically to run the car project. But, an insider who had car experience prior to Apple (at Ford) who was already with Apple when the car project started... it could be anything.
- lotu 11y agoSometimes people realize they have enough money to live the rest of their lives and would rather focus on more immediate pleasures. It is likely that they won't regret the decision on their death bed either.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- zipwitch 11y agoDidn't Neal Stephenson predict this decades ago? "There was a competing bicycle dealership next door (Apple) that one day began selling motorized vehicles--expensive but attractively styled cars with their innards hermetically sealed, so that how they worked was something of a mystery." _In the Beginning, was the Command Line_
- newjersey 11y agoFor perspective, I'd like to invite readers to this 2004 update by another author http://garote.bdmonkeys.net/commandline/ http://garote.bdmonkeys.net/commandline/
- chris_wot 11y agoI wonder what A123 founders think of this?