Apple Inc is accelerating into the Electric Vehicle sector, and it just enlisted a top car-development manager from Italian supercar-maker Lamborghini to help it develop its offerings, according to sources.
Luigi Taraborrelli, a 20 year veteran of Lamborghini will now lead the design of Apple’s forthcoming self-driving vehicle. Taraborrelli will be leaving the position of head of chassis and vehicle dynamics at Lamborghini.
After decades working on such icons as the Urus, Huracan, the Huracan Sterrato off-road vehicle, the Asterion concept car and the Aventador, Taraborrelli will bring some style and panache to an effort which has been dogged by years of setbacks and upheaval. He brings extensive experience from overseeing chassis development, as well as suspension, steering, brakes, rims, and handling characteristics.
He will join Ulrich Kranz, former leader of BMW’s electric car business, former Tesla Autopilot chief Stuart Bowers, and 31 year veteran Ford Motor Co. executive, Desi Ujkashevic on the team working to bring forth the first Apple autonomous EV.
Apple has also recruited hundreds of former engineers from companies as varied as Tesla, Rivian Automotive, Volvo Car AB, Mercedes Benz Group AG, and Alphabet Inc’s Waymo, as well as senior design executives from Tesla, McLaren, Porsche and Aston Martin.
Apple is reportedly looking to present its first vehicle around 2025, and the self-driving car will reportedly have riders sitting facing each other in a limousine-like interior, and will feature no steering wheels or pedals to interfere with its fully autonomous driving technology. Many industry-watchers however have expressed skepticism such a revolutionary design will be able to be put on the market in such a time-frame.
The vehicle’s design is presently overseen by Kevin Lynch, who is also responsible for the Apple Watch and its health software teams, as well as John Giannandrea, the company’s head of machine learning and artificial intelligence.
Apples EV program began in 2014, but leadership turnover, strategy changes and layoffs have plagued the program from the start.
This is not the first time Apple and Lamborghini have crossed paths. In 2020, Apple provided an augmented reality technology which Lamborghini used to help preview their Huracan EVO RWD Spyder. during that project, Apple’s head of marketing noted that Apple “cared deeply” about Lamborghini.
