According to a LinkedIn job update, Ahn Soonho is leaving Apple for Volkswagen (VW). He was previously the Global Battery Development Chief of Apple.
His new job at VW is the Chief Technology Officer at the battery division of Volkswagen Group Components.
This marks the second Apple executive working on the Apple car to leave the tech company. In September,
Doug Field, the head of the car project, left Apple for Ford.
Soonho came on board with Apple back in 2018. He was previously with Samsung and worked on Samsung SDI’s next-generation batteries, reports Reuters.
Apple, for their part, has seen a lot of turmoil at the top and perceived limited progress from the outside on their car project.
Apple was in talks with CATL and BYD to supply batteries for their vehicle, but those talks have stalled as neither company wants to set up manufacturing plants in the US to cater only to Apple.
However, as per Apple CEO Tim Cook, the project is still ongoing. Industry sources told Reuters last year that Apple was aiming to launch the vehicle in 2024. The car would have advanced battery technology.
Apple is not a company that tends to show its cards until the last minute. We have seen this trend on the personal electronics side.
So, the lack of public leaks or updates is not a surprise.
Neither Apple nor VW commented on the LinkedIn profile update.
