More details about Apple’s software team for its not-so-secret car project are emerging. According to a new report from Bloomberg, Apple has hired quite a few engineers in the Ottawa suburb of Kanata. The company also opened an office there and could be developing its car operating system from there.
The reason why Kanata is so hot right now is because BlackBerry’s QNX office also happens to be there. QNX is an operating system for cars and runs many infotainment systems in major car brands, such as Volkswagen, Audi, BMW, GM, Ford and nearly everyone else.
Back in July, another report already indicated that QNX CEO Dan Dodge left the company to join Apple. Since then, around two dozen employees reportedly joined him, along with non-QNX employees.
According to Bloomberg, the team is working on an operating system for cars — and I certainly hope Apple calls it carOS. But it’s unclear if the team is focusing on the infotainment aspect or the software layer that is going to run the entire car.
Apple is now reportedly working on autonomous driving technology and not a full-fledged car. The idea is that Apple could partner with existing car manufacturers to integrate Apple’s technologies.
In addition to this strategy shift, Apple has yet to decide if the car project is viable. If Apple’s car team can’t build a promising demo before the end of 2017, the company could cancel the project.
As you can see, there are a lot of rumors going different ways about Project Titan. Apple could be hiring but also firing, Apple could be opening a new office but also reducing the scope of the project… If the car project is real, there’s one thing for sure: Apple doesn’t really know what it wants to do.