特斯拉汽車工程副總裁加盟蘋果
Apple has lured a top Tesla engineer to its secretive electric car team, according to people familiar with the move.
據知情人士透露，蘋果(Apple)已延攬到特斯拉(Tesla)的一位頂級工程師，讓他加盟其神神祕祕的電動車團隊。
The recruitment of Chris Porritt, who left Aston Martin to become Tesla’s vice-president of vehicle engineering three years ago, is a boost for the Apple car project after the departure of Steve Zadesky, the team’s leader, this year.
克里斯•波利特(Chris Porritt)在三年前離開阿斯頓馬丁(Aston Martin)，出任特斯拉汽車工程副總裁。請到他對於蘋果的汽車項目是一個助力；該公司電動車團隊的領導者史蒂夫•扎德斯基(Steve Zadesky)今年剛離職。
Mr Porritt worked on the Model S and Model X at Tesla, which has been engaged in a war for talent with the iPhone maker for the past 18 months.
波利特曾在特斯拉參與Model S和Model X車型的研發，這家電動車製造商在過去18個月裏與iPhone製造商展開人才爭奪戰。
Apple, which has not acknowledged the existence of a car project, declined to comment. Tesla confirmed Mr Porritt’s departure from the company. His move to Apple was first reported by Electrek, an electric-car news website.
至今沒有承認汽車項目存在的蘋果拒絕置評。特斯拉證實波利特已離開該公司。他跳槽至蘋果的消息最早是由電動車新聞網站Electrek報道的。
Tesla described Mr Porritt in May 2013 as a “world-class leader” and “outstanding engineer”. He spent 16 years at Aston Martin and worked on the DB9, having been at Land Rover for a decade.
特斯拉在2013年5月形容波利特是“世界級領導者”和“傑出工程師”。他在阿斯頓馬丁工作了16年，曾參與研發DB9車型；之前他在路虎(Land Rover)工作了10年。
Traditional carmakers including Toyota, Ford and Renault-Nissan have opened Silicon Valley research and development centres.
豐田(Toyota)、福特(Ford)和雷諾-日產(Renault-Nissan)等傳統汽車製造商均已在硅谷設立研發中心。
Last year Apple poached engineers who had worked on self-driving systems at Tesla and Volkswagen, suggesting that any vehicle it produced would have a degree of autonomous capability.
去年蘋果從特斯拉和大衆(Volkswagen)挖走了參與研發自動駕駛系統的多位工程師，似乎表明蘋果可能製造的汽車將具有一定程度的自動駕駛能力。
And last year it hired Doug Betts, a 25-year auto industry veteran who had worked at Fiat Chrysler.
同樣在去年，蘋果聘請了在汽車行業工作了25年的老將、曾效力於菲亞特克萊斯勒(Fiat Chrysler)的道格•貝茨(Doug Betts)。
But in January it emerged that Mr Zadesky was leaving Apple’s car project for personal reasons. One person close to the team cautioned against seeing Mr Porritt as a direct replacement.
但今年1月傳出的消息是，扎德斯基因個人原因將要離開蘋果的汽車項目。接近蘋果團隊的一名人士告誡稱，不應簡單地假設波利特就是接替扎德斯基的人。
Tesla has fought back, recruiting former Apple staffers in security, sensors, chip design and materials. Last year Elon Musk, founder and chief executive, said Apple was known as the “Tesla graveyard” among his staff.
特斯拉也發起反擊，招募了安全、傳感器、芯片設計和材料領域的蘋果前員工。去年特斯拉創始人和首席執行官埃隆•馬斯克(Elon Musk)曾說，蘋果在他的員工當中有“特斯拉墓地”之稱。
But the tech group’s growing automotive team and resources suggest an increasingly serious initiative.
但是，蘋果不斷壯大的汽車團隊和向該領域投入的越來越多的資源似乎表明，這是一個日趨認真的項目。
Since the Financial Times first reported on Apple’s secret car R&D lab outside its Cupertino headquarters last year, the company is said to have been snapping up real estate in neighbouring Sunnyvale.
自英國《金融時報》去年最先報道蘋果在其庫比蒂諾(Cupertino)總部外有一個祕密的汽車研發實驗室以來，據悉該公司已在鄰近的森尼維爾(Sunnyvale)買下房地產。
Buildings in the area have been given names from Greek mythology, such as Zeus and Medusa, in a possible reference to the car initiative’s code name, Project Titan, according to a report in the Silicon Valley Business Journal this month.
據《硅谷商業雜誌》(Silicon Valley Business Journal)本月報道，在該地區買下的建築物已被取了來自希臘神話的名字，如宙斯(Zeus)和美杜莎(Medusa)，這可能與蘋果汽車項目的代號——泰坦項目(Project Titan)有關。
