How Apple may be going the Tesla way – Times of India

It appears that Apple is trying to follow in the footsteps of Tesla as the tech giant is reportedly working on its own operating system (OS) that will be centrally integrated in its long-rumoured autonomous car. As per a latest report by Digitimes, the operating system will be quite similar to the one seen in Tesla cars, that is used to operate driving controls and also the entertainment.
The rumoured ‘carOS’ will be more than just an expanded version of Apple CarPlay as it will likely be able to control all aspects of the car. In simple terms, the functions of the OS in the rumoured Apple Car is said to range from driving features such as lane control and pedestrian safety, to air conditioning and navigation.
If previous reports are to be believed, the project of ‘Apple Car’ was approved back in 2014. Since then we have numerous reports revealing features and the launch timeline of the product. But most of them revolved around the hardware details. This is the first time a report has revealed any information about rumoured Apple carOS. For those who don’t know, the OS of Tesla cars is a customised version of Linux Ubuntu and it is not entirely developed by the car company.
Apart from this, the report also claims that a Korean firm will assist Apple to develop a self-driving sensor that will likely be part of the Domain Control Unit (DCU). This unit is responsible for handling the most demanding parts of car automation.
As per a previous report by known Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, we may not be able to see the Apple Car till 2025. Kuo suggests that Apple needs to reorganise its team if it wants its first car to hit the production line in the next three years.
Since 2014, the project has already faced several setbacks, including changes in the leadership. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple’s vice president of technology, Kevin Lynch was appointed the leaader of the Apple Car project that is reportedly codenamed “Project Titan”. For those who do not know, Kevin Lynch has been at Apple since 2013 and he his known for his work on the Apple Watch.
In November last year, Gurman also suggested that Apple is boosting the work on its car. He further reported that the company is aiming for a fully-autonomous self-driving car that runs on electricity. The production goal of 2025 was also suggested by Gurman but as per him the timeframe may see setbacks due to development challenges.