Team to build Apple Car Uncovered

The Apple Car rumor is gaining solid ground via a new report that uncovers the people Apple hired to work on the secret project.

The Apple Car rumor broke last week. It could be the biggest Apple rumor of all time if it turns out to be true. Forget the Apple Watch, forget the Apple Television, if Apple is going to make car it is going to be its boldest endeavor ever. Just imagine Apple going against the big established car brands including Volkswagen and Toyota.

Today the Apple Car rumor gained more credibility with a report on 9to5Mac that uncovers several of the key hires Apple made for the secret car project. We heard already about the former Mercedes Benz research guy Johan Jungwirth, but that is just the tip of the iceberg. What is of special interest is that many of the revealed hires are car hardware people. The team Apple assembled include car engineers from Tesla Motors, Ford, General Motors, Autoliv (car safety systems), Emco Gears (Transmissions), A123 Systems (Batteries), Ogin (drive trains) and several more.

9to5Mac really squeezed their Apple sources to get this insight into the 1,000 people team that VP Steve Zadesky is supposed to build for the Apple Car. The A123 hires have already triggered a lawsuit. A123 sues Apple for unfair competition practices.

There are all kinds of opinions out there since the Apple Car rumors broke if Apple should go into the car business. Our take on the whole story is this: If Tesla Motors can, Apple can. Tesla Motors is still small scale compared to the established car makers, but they are probably the biggest reason why all car makers now dabble in electric cars.

On top of that Google plays around with autonomous cars. Also consider that Apple is the most profitable company of all companies out there since last quarter, Apple is the most valuable company and Apple has an insane amount of cash to invest. Apple could yet again disrupt a market and this time it is going to hurt really big guys.

See the full list of revealed Apple Car hires on 9to5Mac.