Rumor: Apple hires Dan Dodge to head up car project, may be shifting focus towards autonomous driving systems

Apple could still be working on a car project, but could be taken it in a new direction.

Bob Mansfield, the Apple executive who led up efforts on the iMac, iPad, MacBook Air and Apple Watch, has apparently been put in charge of Apple’s car project. Mansfield’s first action has been to hire former BlackBerry developer Dan Dodge, who arrives at Apple with an extensive operating system development background.

Mansfield apparently tapped Dodge to work on autonomous driving software for Apple’s car division, code-named Project Titan, signaling that the company is pivoting from building its own car to making the tech that will power the next generation of cars. Or, more likely, Apple is covering all of its bases and seeing whether hardware, software, or a combination of both will succeed.

Dodge joined the software division of Project Titan after leaving QNX, the operating system development company that was acquired by BlackBerry in 2010. QNX notably developed the infotainment and driver assistance systems used by Ford, Volkswagen, and other car companies.

This is interesting in that following a slew of prototypes, test drives, hundreds of new hires and a reported delay to the launch date, Mansfield may be shifting the focus to a system that powers self-driving cars in years to come. Where that puts the long-rumored Apple Car is hard to say, but it’s a step in an interesting new direction.

Via Macworld and Bloomberg