Tesla has poached at least a 150 Apple employees. With that, Tesla has more ex-employees from the technology giant than from any other company, including car makers. The Apple alumni work in different departments at Tesla, which already has a headcount of 6000. From a design perspective Apple is a close relative, in Musk’s opinion.

Now that cars are starting to look like computers more and more, it makes sense. Traditional car makers have trouble attracting talent and with 150 ex-Apple employees, Musk is well-positioned. It is almost an unfair competitive advantage, says Adam Jones, car industry analyst at Morgan Stanley. Software is going to become a huge part of cars (from 10 percent to 60 percent of the value) in the next 10 years, and this puts traditional car makers in a worse position.

Touchscreen Tesla

Employees that made the jump from Apple to Tesla say that their decision was based on the cars and the CEO of the company. Musk supposedly has a reputation of being obsessively concerned with details in design.

The fact that Apple’s influence is found in Tesla is evident from the Model S full-size sedan, which has been on the market since 2012. The luxurious electrical car that costs at least 70,000 dollars has a 17″ touch screen, which controls most of the cars functions. Moreover, the car has internet access and, just like an iPhone or an iPad, the operating system also gets frequent updates.

According to Musk, Apple has approached its ex-employees again to return to their nest with a 250,000 dollar signing bonus and a 60% increase in salary compared to Tesla. Apple is trying hard to recruit people at Tesla, but they have not been very successful says Musk.