Apple's electric car project may be in trouble, as the company veteran who is heading the venture is reportedly leaving the tech giant.

Steve Zadesky, who has been working for the Cupertino-based organization for 16 years, has told people that he is leaving, people familiar with the matter say, according to The Wall Street Journal. One source, who asked to remain anonymous, said that the reason for his departure was more personal than it was related to his performance.

Zadesky's work at Apple includes helping develop the iPod and the iPhone, and he previously worked at Ford before joining the tech giant in 1999. The company gave him permission to start their secret electric car initiative, code-named "Titan," in 2014, and he was tasked with tripling the size of the automotive team and finding a vision for the product.

The exact person reason's for Zadesky's departure and the exact date for when he will leave were not revealed, Phys.org noted.

Apple was contacted by AFP on Friday but declined to comment. Zadesky's also declined to comment to a message sent through LinkedIn about the matter.

The tech giant has yet to confirm that Titan focuses on a car, but it has been hiring engineers and experts in battery and robotics technology for the initiative, Bloomberg reported.

While Apple has set a ship date of 2019 for Titan, that doesn't mean that customers will receive the product that year, WSJ noted.  The date could possibly be for engineers to sign off on the product's main features.

The sources added that Apple has been experiencing some problems with establishing clear goals for the project, with the team being urged to push ahead with deadlines even though some of them believe that they won't be able to meet them. Zadesky leaving, if it is true, should only complicate the initiative.

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