Apple has lured¹ a top Tesla engineer to its secretive electric car team, according to people familiar with the move.

据知情人士透露，苹果(Apple)已延揽到特斯拉(Tesla)的一位顶级工程师，让他加盟其神神秘秘的电动车团队。

The recruitment of Chris Porritt, who left Aston Martin to become Tesla’s vice-president of vehicle engineering three years ago, is a boost for the Apple car project after the departure of Steve Zadesky, the team’s leader, this year.

克里斯•波利特(Chris Porritt)在三年前离开阿斯顿马丁(Aston Martin)，出任特斯拉汽车工程副总裁。请到他对于苹果的汽车项目是一个助力；该公司电动车团队的领导者史蒂夫•扎德斯基(Steve Zadesky)今年刚离职。

Mr Porritt worked on the Model S and Model X at Tesla, which has been engaged in a war for talent with the iPhone maker² for the past 18 months.

波利特曾在特斯拉参与Model S和Model X车型的研发，这家电动车制造商在过去18个月里与iPhone制造商展开人才争夺战。

Apple, which has not acknowledged the existence of a car project, declined to comment. Tesla confirmed Mr Porritt’s departure from the company. His move to Apple was first reported by Electrek, an electric-car news website.

至今没有承认汽车项目存在的苹果拒绝置评。特斯拉证实波利特已离开该公司。他跳槽至苹果的消息最早是由电动车新闻网站Electrek报道的。

Tesla described Mr Porritt in May 2013 as a “world-class leader” and “outstanding engineer”. He spent 16 years at Aston Martin and worked on the DB9, having been at Land Rover for a decade.

特斯拉在2013年5月形容波利特是“世界级领导者”和“杰出工程师”。他在阿斯顿马丁工作了16年，曾参与研发DB9车型；之前他在路虎(Land Rover)工作了10年。

Traditional carmakers including Toyota, Ford³ and Renault-Nissan have opened Silicon⁴ Valley research and development centres.

丰田(Toyota)、福特(Ford)和雷诺-日产(Renault-Nissan)等传统汽车制造商均已在硅谷设立研发中心。

Last year Apple poached engineers who had worked on self-driving systems at Tesla and Volkswagen, suggesting that any vehicle it produced would have a degree of autonomous⁶ capability⁷.

去年苹果从特斯拉和大众(Volkswagen)挖走了参与研发自动驾驶系统的多位工程师，似乎表明苹果可能制造的汽车将具有一定程度的自动驾驶能力。

And last year it hired Doug Betts, a 25-year auto⁵ industry veteran who had worked at Fiat⁸ Chrysler.

同样在去年，苹果聘请了在汽车行业工作了25年的老将、曾效力于菲亚特克莱斯勒(Fiat Chrysler)的道格•贝茨(Doug Betts)。

But in January it emerged that Mr Zadesky was leaving Apple’s car project for personal reasons. One person close to the team cautioned against seeing Mr Porritt as a direct replacement⁹.

但今年1月传出的消息是，扎德斯基因个人原因将要离开苹果的汽车项目。接近苹果团队的一名人士告诫称，不应简单地假设波利特就是接替扎德斯基的人。

Tesla has fought back, recruiting former Apple staffers in security, sensors¹⁰, chip design and materials. Last year Elon Musk¹¹, founder¹² and chief executive, said Apple was known as the “Tesla graveyard¹³” among his staff.

特斯拉也发起反击，招募了安全、传感器、芯片设计和材料领域的苹果前员工。去年特斯拉创始人和首席执行官埃隆•马斯克(Elon Musk)曾说，苹果在他的员工当中有“特斯拉墓地”之称。

But the tech group’s growing automotive team and resources suggest an increasingly serious initiative.

但是，苹果不断壮大的汽车团队和向该领域投入的越来越多的资源似乎表明，这是一个日趋认真的项目。

Since the Financial Times first reported on Apple’s secret car R&D lab outside its Cupertino headquarters last year, the company is said to have been snapping up real estate¹⁴ in neighbouring Sunnyvale.

自英国《金融时报》去年最先报道苹果在其库比蒂诺(Cupertino)总部外有一个秘密的汽车研发实验室以来，据悉该公司已在邻近的森尼维尔(Sunnyvale)买下房地产。

Buildings in the area have been given names from Greek mythology¹⁵, such as Zeus and Medusa, in a possible reference to the car initiative’s code name, Project Titan, according to a report in the Silicon Valley Business Journal this month.

据《硅谷商业杂志》(Silicon Valley Business Journal)本月报道，在该地区买下的建筑物已被取了来自希腊神话的名字，如宙斯(Zeus)和美杜莎(Medusa)，这可能与苹果汽车项目的代号——泰坦项目(Project Titan)有关。