Tesla hires architect of Apple's Swift as VP of Autopilot Software

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 70

    blastdoor said:
    Major indictment of senior management at apple. 

    This does not bode well for Tim Cook. He needs to right this ship. 2017 is make or break for him. I hope he can do it -- I like him.
    Sorry but that's just concern trolling. People come and go from Silicon Valley leaders every single day. Apple's attrition is surely no different than the industry's, and you're likely only responding to confirmation bias since you don't know about the other comings & goings. 

    Every single year people say apple is DOOOMED, and that this year will be *it*. And yet...40 years later....
    mejsricsuddenly newtoncalipropod
  • Reply 22 of 70
    Elon: Wanna work with old geezers for the rest of your life or do you want to change the world?

    Lattner: Nah! Hellz no! Sign me up 
    voodoorublastdoor
  • Reply 23 of 70
    FWIW: He's not a Software Guru. He's a compiler researcher Post-Doc. Completely different boats.
    This is a stupid comment. 
  • Reply 24 of 70
    FWIW: He's not a Software Guru. He's a compiler researcher Post-Doc. Completely different boats.
    Well, I would say that Lattner is a software Guru and he can certainly manage large scale and complex software projects.

    However, he is not necessarily an auto pilot expert.  He will not necessarily redesign the autopilot sensors and methods used by Tesla automobiles.
    I have a gut feeling that Tesla's auto pilot software effort is a mess and in desperate need of restructuring to be saved.
    Maybe Tesla should have stayed with MobileEye.

  • Reply 25 of 70
    I dunno... Personally, I think the more there is a revolving door between Tesla and Apple employees, the better off both companies will be.
    dysamoria
  • Reply 26 of 70
    blastdoorblastdoor Posts: 3,258member

    blastdoor said:
    Major indictment of senior management at apple. 

    This does not bode well for Tim Cook. He needs to right this ship. 2017 is make or break for him. I hope he can do it -- I like him.
    Sorry but that's just concern trolling. People come and go from Silicon Valley leaders every single day. Apple's attrition is surely no different than the industry's, and you're likely only responding to confirmation bias since you don't know about the other comings & goings. 

    Every single year people say apple is DOOOMED, and that this year will be *it*. And yet...40 years later....
    Stick your head in the sand if you want, but this guy matters. He's not just another programmer. 

    The only way Apple is doomed is if they adopt the attitude of fanboys like you. If they recognize how big of a deal this is -- and I'm sure they do -- then they can correct course. I believe they can, I hope they will. 

    People who can't criticize what they love aren't worthy. 
    holyonecanukstorm
  • Reply 27 of 70
    quinneyquinney Posts: 2,528member
    Elon: Wanna work with old geezers for the rest of your life or do you want to change the world?

    Lattner: Nah! Hellz no! Sign me up 
    Apple is the new Pepsi.
  • Reply 28 of 70

    blastdoor said:
    Major indictment of senior management at apple. 

    This does not bode well for Tim Cook. He needs to right this ship. 2017 is make or break for him. I hope he can do it -- I like him.
    Sorry but that's just concern trolling. People come and go from Silicon Valley leaders every single day. Apple's attrition is surely no different than the industry's, and you're likely only responding to confirmation bias since you don't know about the other comings & goings. 

    Every single year people say apple is DOOOMED, and that this year will be *it*. And yet...40 years later....
    A time honored tradition.
    caliwilliamlondon
  • Reply 29 of 70
    mj webmj web Posts: 918member
    Who can blame Lattner? Elon Musk is a visionary and Tim Cook is a bean counter.
  • Reply 30 of 70
    quinney said:
    Elon: Wanna work with old geezers for the rest of your life or do you want to change the world?

    Lattner: Nah! Hellz no! Sign me up 
    Apple is the new Pepsi.
    Maybe John Sculley can be CEO again.
    williamlondon
  • Reply 31 of 70

    FWIW: He's not a Software Guru. He's a compiler researcher Post-Doc. Completely different boats.
    What? He's designing and building the software that enables other developers to write software with. Are you honestly suggesting he's not a software guy? How long have you worked with him personally? Never?

    Software guys develop complex systems. Compiler Guys architect low level portions of design to abstract theory for any application developer to actually develop and later implement, test, file bug reports and expose those theories to reality resulting in a constant iterative process of refining the architecture. He's not a software guy.
    SpamSandwichpropod
  • Reply 32 of 70
    Hey Mansfield, my friend, I love you, but you screwed things up.
    SpamSandwich
  • Reply 33 of 70
    Apple lost ARM for SoftBank. Apple lost Lattner for Tesla. But the next Apple Store in the city of Milan will be beautiful.
    edited January 2017
  • Reply 34 of 70
    JinTechJinTech Posts: 1,020member
    Hey Mansfield, my friend, I love you, but you screwed things up.
    Because you know what he has planned? Please do tell us!
  • Reply 35 of 70
    calicali Posts: 3,494member
    safi said:
    Thank You for LLVM. I'm sure he has a much more rewarding/challenging job now at Tesla with them looking to break the Oil and Gas mafia. Apple while important, is now merely making cellphones and computers. 
    Seriously who uses computers anymore?

    When you open the hood of a future car you'll see a hamster wheel.
  • Reply 36 of 70
    JinTech said:
    Hey Mansfield, my friend, I love you, but you screwed things up.
    Because you know what he has planned? Please do tell us!
    Sounds like Lattner was working on something related to Project Titan. Leaked information indicates that the project has not taken off. Everything indicates that the experienced Mansfield was summoned to put order in the house. Maybe it was not intentional. But Lattner was a very important asset, and Swift is equal important asset and is far from a completed project. My educated guess.
    edited January 2017 rogifan_new
  • Reply 37 of 70
    Rayz2016Rayz2016 Posts: 6,957member
    Apple lost ARM for SoftBank. 

    Unfortunately, you don't really know enough about Apple's processor design house to make that call.

    There is no point in buying ARM because Apple doesn't actually use ARM processors. Apple's Ax chips are designed in-house from the ground up. The reason folk refer to them as ARM processors is because they use the ARM instruction set, which Apple most likely licenses from ARM. 

    In short, Apple doesn't need to buy a chip design company because they already have their own which designs much faster chips with half as many cores.
    edited January 2017 propodwilliamlondonbrucemc
  • Reply 38 of 70
    k2kwk2kw Posts: 2,075member
    mj web said:
    Who can blame Lattner? Elon Musk is a visionary and Tim Cook is a bean counter.
    Makes one wonder what Musk said about his vision beyond EVs and Mars to get Lattner excited enough to jump ship.
  • Reply 39 of 70
    Rayz2016Rayz2016 Posts: 6,957member

    JinTech said:
    Hey Mansfield, my friend, I love you, but you screwed things up.
    Because you know what he has planned? Please do tell us!
    Sounds like Lattner was working on something related to Project Titan. Leaked information indicates that the project has not taken off. Everything indicates that the experienced Mansfield was summoned to put order in the house. Maybe it was not intentional. But Lattner was a very important asset, and Swift is equal important asset and is far from a completed project. My educated guess.
    Actually, that's the most uneducated guess I've seen so far.

    Project Titan remains an unknown skunkworks project surrounded in rumours. Is it failing? Can't really say because Apple hasn't actually said its working on it, or what it's end goals are.

    My own uneducated guess is this:

    Apple likes to skate to where the puck is going to be, and while they were working on the idea of selling their own car, the puck moved, and they had to change direction. I think they realised that by the time they had a car ready to sell, ride-sharing would have put a series dent in the car sales market. They also realised that Tesla doesn’t make that much money (if it makes any money at all) on any of the cars it sells, and it was unlikely that they would either. So rather than look at if they could bring a unique selling proposition to the car market, they switched their focus to ride-sharing. (Someone else here did a really good write-up of this, but I can't find the post). 

    As for the Lattner leaving; I think this is another case of concern trolls piling on. People like him will be looking for the next challenge, and it's entirely possible that Tesla offered him more control of their own car project than Apple was willing to give him on theirs. Swift is out in the wild and open-sourced. IBM is churning out stuff with it, and its extending its reach to other platforms. Lattner has said he will continue to work on it, so I'm not sure that I see the problem.

    When Avie Tevanian left Apple, OSX was nowhere near finished; oddly enough, the OS is still being developed as far as I can tell. Tevanian wasn't working all by himself, neither was Lattner and neither is Ive. 

    There is an assumption that everyone at Apple is irreplaceable; not the case. The only person who they can't seem to replace is Mansfield, and that is a worry, because he will want to retire at some point.

    clock07brucemc
  • Reply 40 of 70
    canukstormcanukstorm Posts: 2,695member

    blastdoor said:
    Major indictment of senior management at apple. 

    This does not bode well for Tim Cook. He needs to right this ship. 2017 is make or break for him. I hope he can do it -- I like him.
    Sorry but that's just concern trolling. People come and go from Silicon Valley leaders every single day. Apple's attrition is surely no different than the industry's, and you're likely only responding to confirmation bias since you don't know about the other comings & goings. 

    Every single year people say apple is DOOOMED, and that this year will be *it*. And yet...40 years later....
    Lattner isn't just a B-player or an A-player. He's a star player. And as great as Swift is, there' still much work to be done.
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