18 Macworld • January 2022NEWS
Tesla veteran Doug
Field for VP of
Special Projects,
but Field left earlier
this year to serve
as Chief Officer
of Advanced
Technology at Ford.
Apple then handed
the project over to
Kevin Lynch, the
software engineer
responsible
for the Apple
Watch’s software.
Under this new leadership, the
report claims, Apple has settled on
the more ambitious of two potential
plans: A fully autonomous vehicle,
rather than one that focuses only
on driving assistance similar to
many vehicles sold today. The report
says that if Apple can’t get its fully
autonomous system done in time
for the 2025 date it could either
delay the car’s release or sell one
with lesser technology.
Apple currently tests autonomous
vehicles in California, where it has
fewer than 70 autonomous vehicles
registered with the DMV, as of 2020.
That’s a pretty low number, though
Apple could have expanded its
testing fleet in 2021.Bloomberg’s report claims that
Apple’s ideal car would have no
steering wheel at all, and Apple has
explored several different interior
layouts and designs. ‘People familiar
with the matter’ claim that Apple
has reached a major milestone in
its self-driving system, completing
the core work on the internally-
designed processor it intends to
ship in the vehicle. The chip is the
most sophisticated Apple has yet
developed and is expected to run hot
and require special cooling as Apple
begins using it in retrofit test vehicles.
The project’s timetable is still quite
aggressive. It often takes at least two
or three years for an established car
company to go from a final prototypeKevin Lynch is to lead Apple’s car ambitions.