self-drive

Ex-Tesla engineer Doug Field is back at Apple, working on its self-driving-car program, Project Titan

Tim Cook in a car (large)
Apple CEO Tim Cook and Didi Chuxing's Jean Liu take a car in China. Apple
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  • Doug Field, a former Apple engineer who jumped to Tesla in 2013 and eventually oversaw production of the Tesla Model 3, is back at Apple, where he's working with the team in charge of Apple's self-driving-car program.
  • Field rejoined Bob Mansfield, who is leading Apple's Project Titan, the tech journalist John Gruber and Reuters reported late Thursday night.
  • Field stepped away from Tesla in May. The electric-car maker officially announced his departure in July.
  • Project Titan has shown signs of life in recent weeks, despite earlier rumors that the division was flailing.

Doug Field, a former Apple engineering executive who recently oversaw production of Tesla's Model 3 sedan, has returned to Apple to work with Bob Mansfield, who is leading Apple's self-driving-car program, Project Titan.

Field worked in Apple's Mac division in 2013 before going to Tesla. He stepped away from the electric-car maker in May, and Tesla officially announced his departure in July.

The tech correspondent John Gruber and Reuters reported Field's new role at Apple late Thursday night.

Revelations about Project Titan that emerged last month hinted that the program was apparently more robust than previously thought. According to an affidavit filed in an FBI investigation, Apple has been working on components that could be used in some type of vehicle.

Apple was also building prototypes and had requirements for power, battery system, and "drivetrain suspension mounts," according to the affidavit.

Perhaps the biggest hint was that some 5,000 employees were given access to information about "the Project," as it's described in the affidavit. Previous estimates pegged the number at about 1,000.

Kif Leswing contributed to this report.

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Bryan was a former senior editor on the West Coast news team who joined Insider in January 2015. He built the West Coast news division from a staff of one to a team of 12, expanding its footprint from San Francisco to Los Angeles and Sydney, Australia, from 2015 to 2018. In 2019, Bryan took over leadership duties on Insider's transportation desk, successfully growing the team from four full-time journalists to a group of eight reporters, two correspondents, and an associate editor in less than a year. Under his leadership, the transportation team broke stories on TeslaNASA, and United Airlines. It produced extensive coverage of the SpaceX Demo-2 launchprofiled Ford CEO Jim Hackett on the future of the legacy automaker, and launched a quarterly series spotlighting the next phases in the world of mobility. Bryan was also part of the inaugural team that launched Insider's revamped IGNITION conferencehosting the titans of the transportation, tech, and mobility industries in San Francisco. In 2020, Bryan rejoined Insider's news desk to oversee the expansion the West Coast bureau, which includes reporters in Hawaii and an office in Singapore.  Bryan is an LA native who began his career in talk radio and also anchored weekend news coverage for an NPR affiliate in San Diego.