Two articles kind of collided for me.

From the Dow Jones Newswires:

In a permit issued April 14 by the state of California, obtained Friday through a public-records request, Apple identifies six employees, including roboticists who worked at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, who will be in the front seat of three Lexus sport-utility vehicles outfitted with technology to make them autonomous.

More specifically:

The permit also names three engineers who worked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Paul Hebert, who has designed a robot that could unlock a door; Jeremy Ma, who focused on algorithms for detecting three-dimensional objects; and Victor Hwang, who has worked on motion-planning algorithms for robots, according to their LinkedIn pages, which list them as working at Apple.

Then comes this Bloomberg article:

Apple Inc. has gone to space to find additional talent for its augmented reality efforts. The iPhone maker has hired Jeff Norris, a specialist in the new technology from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, to help build future products, according to people familiar with the matter.

And, more specifically:

Norris founded the Mission Operations Innovation Office of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab, where he led efforts to create new ways to control spacecraft and robots in space with virtual and augmented reality, according to his website.

One article focused on autonomous vehicles, the other on augmented reality. Is this simply a coincidence of mining a rich vein for employees, or are the two efforts more deeply connected? Opinions welcome.