Apple Building Car Software in Canada, Where BlackBerry is Doing the Same Thing with QNX
Apple, as we know, is not afraid to step on a few toes. So we were not surprised to learn that Apple has a team of engineers building Project Titan’s software in Canada—even though the company typically keeps secret projects close to home in California.
The team, according to Bloomberg, is a relatively recent creation and some of them have come from QNX, an automotive software provider owned by BlackBerry, which of course is headquartered in Ontario. The most notable such hire is Dan Dodge, QNX’s former CEO.
Project Titan is Apple’s initiative to build its own fully autonomous vehicle. But it may end up simply being a car operating system instead (not there is anything simple about that). Apple may have ideas about integrating augmented reality as well, such as through a heads-up display and voice-activated commands.
Given that BlackBerry has exited the smartphone game—at least from a hardware perspective—Apple’s encroaching on QNX’s territory is a serious assault, given that the subsidiary is expected to be a major proponent of the Canadian company’s software-reliant future. QNX, too, is working toward autonomous technology. (Who isn’t these days?)
