Apple continues to develop project for self-driving cars |
After the former Ford boss left, Apple has appointed one of its senior program directors, Kevin Lynch (Kevin Lynch), to oversee its new self-driving car project.
Lynch is an Adobe veteran who joined Apple in 2013 and is responsible for managing the company's software suite for the company's smartwatch and health operations, replacing Dougfield as the company's chief operating officer.
The CEO began taking over the project earlier this year when he led the team that led the main project.
But Lynch now leads the entire team, which also includes hardware engineering and autonomous vehicle sensors.
The change represents the latest change in the project's turbulent history. Since the company began developing self-driving car projects around 2014, the effort has led to leadership changes, layoffs, and strategic changes, all of which are classified.
Lynch was the vice president of technology for the company where he developed watchOS. He also leads the development of health-related software, including health apps and search apps on the iPhone.
Lynch continues to contribute to work and health programs on Apple Watch. However, in the past few months it has been less active in developing these products.
Apple continues to develop project for self-driving cars
It's not clear if the company can benefit many of its top executives because of its automotive effort, known internally as Project Titan, when it's sophisticated enough to give the company the confidence to have a fully autonomous vehicle on top of it being brought to market.
Field's departure from Ford is seen as a sign that Apple cars won't hit the market in the near future. Product development is still in its infancy and company employees do not expect it to hit the market for many years.
Field took up the automotive project in 2018 and joined Ford as Senior Executive Director of the Advanced Technology Business.
Lynch's decision to lead the automotive project shows that the company is still focused on core software and independent technology, rather than the physical mechanics of the vehicle.
Lynch has run the software for decades, not the person responsible for overseeing the hardware team. He never worked for a car company.
This is in stark contrast to previous CEOs. The car's first project manager, Steve Zadsky, was an engineer at Ford early in his career, and Field was also a senior executive at Tesla before taking on the Apple project.
The company still has a few senior automotive project managers. The team is made up of former Tesla executives who led the vehicle's interior and exterior design, powertrain and autonomous driving projects.
Earlier this year, Apple also hired Ulrich Kranz, who has led BMW's electric vehicle business and co-founded Canoo Autonomous Vehicles. But in addition to Feld, the company also lost several other executives.
Last year, after former hardware manager Bob Mansfield left, John Giandrea, the company's head of artificial intelligence, was selected for field and automotive projects. However, Lynch reports to Jeff Williams, the company's chief operating officer.