Michael Schwekutsch was a senior vice president of engineering at Archer, an Apple Special Projects Group director who was reportedly involved in self-driving car research. Schwekutsch made the announcement on his blog. LinkedIn pageThis Wednesday

This is just the latest instance of employee turnover. Apple“The secretive car project” Ex-VP for special projects Doug FieldFord’s new technology initiatives, an area of priority to the automaker as a legacy manufacturer under its new leadership, were led by him in September Ford+ turnaround plan.

This move shows that technology start-ups involved in climate change can also attract highly qualified engineers. Former VP Engineering TeslaAccording to his online resume, Schwekutsch has more than 100 patents relating to vehicle design. He worked on the prototypes of the Tesla Plaid systems and led production for electric drive systems for various Tesla, Porsche and BMW models.

Archer works on vertically-launching electric air taxis. Archer is working with Joby Aviation and Lilium to provide short-haul transportation for passengers. This will avoid traffic and reduce noise and emissions from cars and traditional fuel-burning planes.

Already, the Maker model can hold one person and a pilot. The Maker is also working on a four-passenger version. Once its plane are commercially cleared by Federal Aviation Administration, the company plans to offer urban mobility services in Los Angeles.

Founded in 2018 and based in Palo Alto, Calif., Archer went public in September after merging with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), Atlas Crest Investment Corp.

Archer has previously announcedThis United AirlinesIt not only made investments in the business but also ordered $1 billion worth of fully-electric aircraft. The option was available to purchase an additional $500,000,000 over time. 

According to the ICAO, passenger air transport generated 785 millions tons of carbon dioxide emissions in 2019. research byInternational Council on Clean Transportation

Meanwhile, the International Air Transport Association predicts that air travel passenger numbers will recover to more than 85% of pre-pandemic levels next year, and surpass pre-pandemic levels by 5% in 2023.

Apple has not acknowledged that it is working on a vehicle, however, multiple media outlets have reported its progress since 2014. permitCalifornia has a CEO Tim Cook has obliquely mentionedInterest of the company

However, investors in automotive and technology are being alerted by the possibility of a well-capitalized tech giant introducing an electric driverless vehicle.

Morgan Stanley equity analysts Adam Jonas, Katy L. Huberty, and Adam Jonas discussed the potential design of an Apple car, its launch date, and what impact it could have on Tesla and the wider battery electric vehicle market.

Jonas said, “One of our thoughts about Elon Musk is that Tesla doesn’t want to make better electric vehicles than Volkswagen.” According to him, Tesla wants every competitive advantage before Apple. According to him, Tesla is motivated by the possibility of Apple making Tesla a BlackBerry.

Apple, Archer, and Schwekutsch didn’t immediately reply to our requests for comment.