Apple Car Team Loses Yet Another Key Employee as Turnover Continues

Apple has long been rumored to be planning an electric vehicle, but the team working on the project has reportedly faced many struggles over the years, including development challenges and the loss of some key employees.

Apple car wheel icon feature purple
One of the latest departures is CJ Moore, who has left Apple to join autonomous vehicle technology company Luminar. In a press release shared by Bloomberg, Luminar said Moore will lead the company's global software development team. Moore had served as a director of autonomous systems at Apple since August, after working on autopilot software at Tesla for nearly seven years, according to his LinkedIn profile.

The so-called "Apple Car" team has seen several departures and hires as turnover continues. Apple's director of machine learning Ian Goodfellow recently moved to Google, for example, while longtime Ford engineer Desi Ujkashevic joined Apple.

In late 2021, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported that Apple was aiming to develop an electric vehicle with full self-driving functionality that does not require human intervention, with the project being led by Apple executive Kevin Lynch. Gurman said Apple's ideal car would have no steering wheel and pedals for a hands-off driving experience. Apple's vehicle is expected to launch around 2025 at the earliest.

Popular Stories

Apple Logo Black

Apple Just Made Its Second-Biggest Acquisition Ever After Beats

Thursday January 29, 2026 10:07 am PST by
Apple today confirmed to Reuters that it has acquired Q.ai, an Israeli startup that is working on artificial intelligence technology for audio. Apple paid close to $2 billion for Q.ai, according to sources cited by the Financial Times. That would make this Apple's second-biggest acquisition ever, after it paid $3 billion for the popular headphone and audio brand Beats in 2014. Q.ai has...
Aston Martin CarPlay Ultra Screen

Apple's CarPlay Ultra to Expand to These Vehicle Brands Later This Year

Sunday February 1, 2026 10:08 am PST by
Last year, Apple launched CarPlay Ultra, the long-awaited next-generation version of its CarPlay software system for vehicles. Nearly nine months later, CarPlay Ultra is still limited to Aston Martin's latest luxury vehicles, but that should change fairly soon. In May 2025, Apple said many other vehicle brands planned to offer CarPlay Ultra, including Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis. In his Powe...
14 inch MacBook Pro Keyboard

Apple Changes How You Order a Mac

Saturday January 31, 2026 10:51 am PST by
Apple recently updated its online store with a new ordering process for Macs, including the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac mini, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro. There used to be a handful of standard configurations available for each Mac, but now you must configure a Mac entirely from scratch on a feature-by-feature basis. In other words, ordering a new Mac now works much like ordering an...
Apple Logo Black

Apple's Next Launch is 'Imminent'

Sunday February 1, 2026 12:31 pm PST by
The calendar has turned to February, and a new report indicates that Apple's next product launch is "imminent," in the form of new MacBook Pro models. "All signs point to an imminent launch of next-generation MacBook Pros that retain the current form factor but deliver faster chips," Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said on Sunday. "I'm told the new models — code-named J714 and J716 — are slated...
Apple MacBook Pro M4 hero

New MacBook Pros Reportedly Launching Alongside macOS 26.3

Sunday February 1, 2026 5:42 am PST by
Apple is planning to launch new MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips alongside macOS 26.3, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. "Apple's faster MacBook Pros are planned for the macOS 26.3 release cycle," wrote Gurman, in his Power On newsletter today. "I'm told the new models — code-named J714 and J716 — are slated for the macOS 26.3 software cycle, which runs from...

Top Rated Comments

peg27 Avatar
48 months ago
Ford will be making mobile phones before Apple are making cars.
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
antnythr Avatar
48 months ago
The guy left Apple after less than a year. Sounds like a dumpster fire at Apple with so many big names leaving.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JPack Avatar
48 months ago

To be honest, anyone who is a former Tesla autopilot engineer probably isn't the best hire. How late is that tech now?
Just because Musk makes unrealistic promises doesn't somehow make every AP engineer in the company a poor hire.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TheYayAreaLiving ?️ Avatar
48 months ago
SMH! What a disaster. Every week we're getting news like this. This, Apple car project may not be exciting to work with anymore.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
6787872 Avatar
48 months ago
tim cook is the steve balmer of apple. they both raised stock and profit but are completely uninspired and have no direction. hope he retires soon.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Apple Knowledge Navigator Avatar
48 months ago
Turns out he was after Moore money…
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)