A director of engineering for Apple’s Special Projects Group has left the company to join a flying-taxi startup, marking the latest departure in Apple’s secretive car project. Michael Schwekutsch, a former VP of engineering at Tesla who joined Apple in 2019, has taken a role as senior vice president of engineering at Archer Aviation.
His exit follows the departure of former VP of social projects Doug Field in September. CNBC reports it signals growing interest among top engineers in tech startups focused on climate change.
After almost 3 years Apple it was time for a new challenge. I recently joined Archer Aviation in Palo Alto. Creating solutions for sustainable air mobility will be the next big challenge for me. And I am happy to bank on the experiences and know how I built in the last few years at Tesla and Apple. Why Archer? First, Archer has a great team. A good mix of aerospace experts and Silicon Valley engineers. Second, we have a product and business plan that works with today’s technology. So all the technology advancements we will make are “icing on the cake” and make the product even more attractive. Third, the two founders – Brett and Adam – and I think very much alike. We are all driven by getting things done in the right way.
— Dr. Michael Schwekutsch on official LinkedIn account
