Apple’s Electric Car Initiative ‘Project Titan’ Finds A New Head In Bob Mansfield

Rumors about Apple working on to develop an electric vehicle have been making rounds for quite some time now. A new report coming from Wall Street Journal claims that the tech giant is indeed serious about its plans and has reportedly handed over reigns of its secret electric car initiative, dubbed "Project Titan," in the hands of senior executive, Bob Mansfield.

According to the report, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter, all the senior managers and engineers working on the Cupertino's car project have already begun reporting to Mr. Mansfield.

Mansfield joined Apple under the leadership of Steve Jobs in 1999 after the company acquired Raycer Graphics, where he served as vice president of engineering. During his work tenure, Mansfield has served as an adviser in Apple since stepping down from his day-to-day role on the executive team in 2013. However, he continued to work with the company on special projects.

He has led hardware engineering efforts on the development of the iMac, iPad and MacBook Air and has also worked on Apple Watch.

The news of Mr. Mansfield's reassignment comes months after Steve Zadesky, the Apple vice president in charge of "Project Titan," left the company back in January.

The Information recently reported that the anticipated shipping date of Apple's secret electric car has been pushed back to 2021. The company originally targeted a release in 2020.

While, Apple has never confirmed its secretive automotive project, there have been reports which claim that the iPhone maker has purchased several web addresses related to cars, including apple.car and apple.auto, and has around 600 employees working on "Project Titan."

Back in June, the company tapped in Sinisa Durekovic, the talent behind Harman's navigation system and also invested $1 billion in Didi Chuxing, a China-based ride-sharing company, in May.

Apple is yet to officially confirm Bob Mansfield's appointment.