Metaphorically speaking, Doug Field is driving away from Cupertino in a state-of-the-art electric vehicle. Tesla Motors (TSLA +0.73%) announced today that it has hired the now-former Apple executive to be its vice president of vehicle programs. In his new position, Field will be "responsible for driving development of new vehicles," in Tesla's words.
At Apple, Field was vice president of Mac hardware engineering and helped develop the latest versions of that line's signature products. Tesla will not be his first job in the auto industry; he began his career as an engineer at Ford. He also served as chief technology officer at Segway.
Field's experience in two separate industries was a factor that attracted Tesla. In the press release announcing the hiring, the company quoted CEO Elon Musk as saying that its new VP's "experience in both consumer electronics and traditional automotive makes him an important addition to our leadership team."
