Lawyer Jonathan Morrison is thought to have worked on the Apple Car project
An Apple lawyer believed to have worked on the canceled Apple Car project has been appointed to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, by President Trump.
According to his sparse LinkedIn profile Jonathan Morrison joined Apple in March 2021 following three years as Chief Counsel for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) during President Trump’s first term. There is no detail available concerning his role at Apple, but based on his prior work experience, Morrison will have been on the company’s legal team.
Reuters reports that he will now serve as the NHTSA’s administrator. It means that Morrison will now lead the agency’s policy development.
While it’s a presumption that he was involved with the Apple Car, that project saw Apple having to comply with vehicle regulations, and again Morrison has prior experience in the field. From 2006, he spent eight years as Director of Legal & Regulator Affairs for the California New Car Dealers Association (CNCDA).
“I held primary responsibility over CNCDA’s legal compliance operations,” Morrison says in his LinkedIn profile, “developing guidance for dealers in response to new or amended statutes, regulations, court opinions, or law enforcement activity.”
Following the CNCDA, Morrison was president of Auto Advisory Services, Inc., from 2014 to 2017, when he was appointed to the NHTSA for the first time.
Morrison joined Apple in the last three years of the Apple Car project, which is believed to have begun in 2014. Known internally as Project Titan, it was an attempt to create a full self-driving car.
