Apple has been tight lipped about its secret car project for few years now. However, the company has been making some important appointments for its car project. A new report from Bloomberg says that Apple has hired Dan Dodge, the former head of BlackBerry Ltd.’s automotive software division.
Dodge is the founder and CEO of QNX, a company whose specialty was embedded operating systems — particularly in vehicles — that was acquired by BlackBerry in 2010. QNX also makes in-car entertainment and navigation software used by various automakers such as Daimler, Ford and Volkswagen. He will work on software team of Apple’s Project Titan and report to John Wright. Project Titan is reportedly now led by long-time Apple executive Bob Mansfield, who reports directly to Tim Cook.
Apple is expected that the electric car will be shipped in 2019. The company recently hired several Tesla engineers, as well as staff from other companies in the automotive industry for this project. In April, the company hired Chris Porritt, the former vice president of engineering at Tesla to work on “special products”.
Apple is also said to be involved in self driving car project. Earlier in January this year, the company trademarked apple.car, apple.auto and apple.cars domain names. According to the report, Project Titan is shifting focus to develop autonomous driving system software instead of manufacturing a complete vehicle.