Apple continues hiring streak – hires ex-Tesla designer Andrew Kim

Tesla Senior Designer Andrew Kim left the company only to join Apple. Kim was primarily a vehicle interior designer, focusing not just on the aesthetics of the car, but on the dashboard layout as well.

Kim was hired by Microsoft in 2012 and he rose to prominence with his design project – “The Next Microsoft.” The project proposed a connected, futuristic approach for Microsoft and its products. He left for Tesla in 2015 and joined Apple earlier in December, confirms his LinkedIn profile.

Kim isn’t a single move by Apple in potentially populating its AI self-driving car project, however. A few months ago, Doug Field returned to Apple from Tesla where he was Chief Vehicle Engineer. Field was former VP of Mac hardware at Apple and is now rumored to be working on the company’s secretive “Project Titan” self-driving car program.

Furthermore, reports emerged that Apple had stepped up its poaching activities involving Tesla employees, luring away experts from different sectors including software engineering and supply chain. Apple hired at least 46 people from Tesla in 2018, reports suggest. A report also claims that some of them were sent to Project Titan, and the rest redirected to other products.

With his UI design background in Microsoft, Kim could just be working on the user experience of any self-driving software Apple plans to sell to carmakers. Or, his product design experience will be just enough for a number of Apple’s current hardware focuses, including the rumored AR headset.