Apple Continues Hiring Automotive Experts, Possibly for Rumored ‘Titan’ auto

A new hire at Apple has the WSJ pointing at the unannounced vehicle project.

According to the latest report hailing from The Wall Street Journal, Apple has hired Doug Betts, who previously served as the Senior Vice President of the Chrysler Group, and at that point, his responsibilities was being the global head of operations leading product service and quality.

Apple Incorporated is recruiting automotive industry experts, which is being considered by many a clear signal of the company’s efforts in developing an electric vehicle. The LinkedIn profile of Mr. Betts indicated that he joined the company in July with a job title as “Operations-Apple Inc.” attached with “San Francisco Bay Area” as location without other specifics.

(Brian Kersey/Getty Images) A non-Apple auto drives by the new Apple Store on October 21, 2010 in Chicago, Illinois.

The rumours were given further credibility in May when Fiat Chrysler’s chief executive Sergio Marchionne revealed that his counterpart at Apple Tim Cook had expressed an interest in the car.

BMW’s production chief earlier this month indicated discussions were ongoing between itself and Apple and Google, and is open to partnerships, although stressed that the actual development of cars was “not the subject of these talks”.

Apple has kept Project Titan a closely guarded secret.

Tesla boss Elon Musk said in February that Apple has been on a hiring spree for Tesla staff while a battery technology company A123 Systems sued Apple for poaching top engineers.

It also reported that Apple was carrying out several automotive-related renovations, including an “auto work area” and a “repair garage” on the premises.