Apple has just hired an engineer who claims he used to work on digital license plates.
Joining a handful of rumors on Apple's electric car initiative Project Titan (Apple Car's codename) is the LinkedIn profile of a certain Rónán Ó Braonáin, the director of Engineering at Reviver, a company which Ó Braonáin says is building "the world's first digital license plate."
The digital license plates are deemed as high-tech plates. If, for instance, the car is stolen, these plates come equipped with wireless connectivity which will then alert authorities with the incident. It is also said that these plates will soon give rise to a so-called shared vehicle program. Under that program, a vehicle can be owned by more than one person. The plates will just switch the numbers and letters displayed, depending on who is driving the car.
Apple's new secret agent also worked at Vision Fleet, responsible for creating fleet management. Prior to being employed at Vision Fleet, he was connected to BMW as a software engineer who worked on connected car applications.
According to his LinkedIn page, Ó Braonáin was hired by Apple back in August.
Considering how tight-lipped Apple is when it comes to its upcoming products and how Ó Braonáin calls himself a "Secret Agent @ Apple Special Projects," on his LinkedIn page, which was uncovered by Electrek, a possibility exists that Apple may not be working on digital plates for its electric vehicle. However, it makes sense to believe that the company is considering the digital license plate technology to incorporate into its Apple Car.
In the meantime, it was earlier reported that Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, criticized Apple for hiring the company's previous engineers it previously laid off.
Apple has also been hiring previous employees from other companies like Nvidia, Chrysler, Ford, Volkswagen and a slew of researchers who are experts in the field of autonomous cars and connected car systems.
It has been purported that Apple is planning to complete its Apple Car by 2019.
