The Apple Car project suffers another setback as key executive leaves for Rivian

The Apple Car project, known internally as Project Titan, has had something of a difficult life over the years. The project has reportedly gone through a variety of incarnations with a number of executives and engineers moving through the project. It still isn't 100% clear whether the project will ever turn into a vehicle that can be bought, but Apple seems reticent to drop it completely after spending so long - and presumably so much money -on the project. Now, it's reported that Apple has lost yet another executive.

Writing for Bloomberg, Apple-focused reporter Mark Gurman says that Apple has lost a key executive to a competitor in the form of Rivian, a company that has been making popular electric vehicles for some time. DJ Novotney was reportedly involved in the Apple Car project since the beginning and was a vice president of hardware engineering before informing colleagues of his decision to leave the company this past Friday. Novotney will reportedly take over as senior vice president of vehicle programs at Rivian.

Gurman reports that Novotney worked at Apple for almost 25 years before his decision to leave and that he was instrumental in the development of a number of Apple's most iconic products including the iPod and iPhone. He was also chosen to lead the development of the iPad, too. It's also reported that he was part of the Apple Watch launch which speaks to how integral he has been in a number of huge launches for Apple. It's easy to see why he would have been chosen to be involved in the Apple Car project, but that involvement will now come to an end.

One project that Novotney does not appear to have been involved in was the Vision Pro, a mixed reality headset that will become available to the public on February 2 after years of development.