Apple recruits Tesla’s head of electric powertrains

Just because Apple

scaled back its self-driving car team

doesn’t mean it’s out of the game. If anything, it made a potentially significant hire. The company

has hired

Michael Schwekutsch, the

Tesla

VP overseeing electric powertrains, as a Senior Director of Engineering at the Special Project Group (the division that includes

driverless vehicles

). There’s no mention of what he’s doing, to no one’s surprise, but his experience speaks volumes.

Electrek noted

that Schwekutsch has extensive experience leading the development of electric drivetrains, and not just at Tesla. He played key roles in the

second-generation Roadster

and

the Semi

, but he also contributed to the

BMW i8

, the

Porsche 918 Spyder

and

Fiat 500e

, among other

EVs

and

hybrids

. He’s likely to continue on that path at Apple, then.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that Apple is back to producing its fabled car. Apple is believed to be

partnering with VW

on autonomous shuttles that would ferry employees between its offices. The hire may be focused on bringing that and any other shuttle work to fruition. Schwekutsch would be an unusually high-profile hire for a narrowly focused effort, though, and the timing of his hire (he both left Tesla and joined Apple in March) suggests that he might have been poached. Whatever he’s doing, Apple believes he’s important.

Reporting by Jon Fingas for Engadget

.