Apple Car rumors have really heated up this year with a variety of predictions pointing to production possibly starting as soon as 2024 for an actual vehicle. And amid Apple working to step into a whole new industry, the company has hired two more veteran engineers, this time from Mercedes.

Spotted by MacRumors, the big addition to what is likely the Apple Car team – codenamed Project Titan – is Dr. Anton Uselmann. He just started as a product design engineer with Apple’s Special Projects Group as of September 2021 according to his LinkedIn profile.

Uselmann, who holds a doctorate in mechatronics, was formerly a steering system development engineer for Mercedes-AMG from January 2018 until last month. And before that, he spent almost six years working on steering systems at Porsche.

In his time at Mercedes, Uselmann says he was “responsible for a large part of the development chain for steering systems in several Mercedes-AMG series.” The automaker’s AMG vehicles are its high-performance models. Part of his work also included getting steering systems ready for “mass production release.”

MacRumors also learned about a second unnamed former Mercedes engineer who also recently joined Apple.

We’ve seen a wide range of rumors as far as potential release dates (2024-2028) and partners that Apple may work with to handle production. The latest includes talks with Toyota and other Japanese and Asian suppliers.

In a related development, a rumor has surfaced that Apple could be the purchaser of a large proving grounds in Arizona that it previously may have leased from Chrysler (via AZ Big Media). If that’s the case, Apple would be behind the entity “Greenberg Traurig” which made the $125 million deal and would likely use the 5,000+ acre facility for extensive Apple Car testing.

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