Apple Loses Former Tesla Autopilot Software Engineer to Luminar

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Investing.com — Former Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Autopilot software engineer Christopher “CJ” Moore, who joined Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) car project in 2021, has left to join Luminar Technologies (NASDAQ:LAZR), a lidar company.

Moore served as director of autopilot software at Tesla, then moved to Apple as director of autonomous systems.

In a press release today it was revealed Moore will link up with Luminar to lead its software development team, aiming to advance Sentinel, Luminar’s full-stack safety and autonomous solution.

“With industry-defining technology and now nearly a dozen major commercial wins in hand, Luminar is ready for its next phase of leadership as we focus all-in on execution,” said Luminar founder and CEO, Austin Russell. “We’re attracting the best leaders in the world in their fields to execute our vision and deliver on the future of transportation.”

The news is another blow to Apple’s secretive car project. In December last year, it was reported that the company lost three key engineers to start-ups, while in September last year its car project chief Doug Field left to join Ford.

Luminar stock has risen more than 8% Wednesday.