Apple pulls Bob Mansfield back from retirement to lead the “Apple Car” project

Apparently, we have a new face – in a way – in the piece; more precisely, in the piece of the Apple that is developing the mythical “Apple Car”. According to the The Wall Street Journal, Apple called Bob Mansfield to take the reins of the “Project Titan” and try to get things on track (no pun intended, please).

Bob Mansfield

If memory serves him, Mansfield was one of Apple’s most prolific and well-liked executives in the past decade. He joined the company in 1999 when Raycer Graphics (the company where he was vice president of engineering) was purchased by Steve Jobs on his crusade to bring the Apple back to life. From there, as senior vice president of hardware engineering, he was one of the key heads for the development of highly popular products, such as the iMac, MacBook Air and iPad.

Mansfield announced his retirement in 2012 before jumping from position to position within Apple, but continued to make occasional visits to 1 Infinite Loop to advise and oversee the progress of the company’s new projects. Now, apparently, he has returned to a full position: according to sources close to the subject who spoke with the WSJ, employees within the Apple car project now respond to it.

The “Project Titan”, as is well known, has had its share of problems. Companies refusing to collaborate, executives leaving the leadership, postponements on the likely launch date… no one knows for sure what is happening in this Apple auto field, but an experienced and familiar mind is expected modus operandi da Maçã can help a lot in this endeavor. We’ll see.

[via MacRumors]