What you need to know
- Kevin Lynch has reportedly taken over the Apple Car project.
- The executive takes over the project from Doug Field, who just left Apple for Ford.
The Apple Car project already has a new boss.
As reported by Bloomberg, Kevin Lynch, Apple's vice president of technology, has taken over Project Titan, the company's electric car project.
Apple Inc. appointed one of its top software executives, Kevin Lynch, to oversee its nascent self-driving car project after the previous leader left for Ford Motor Co.Lynch, an Adobe Inc. veteran who joined Apple in 2013 to run the software group for the company's smartwatch and health efforts, replaced Doug Field as the manager in charge of the car work, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
According to the report, Lynch, who is accustomed to working on software, is being tasked with also overseeing the hardware engineering efforts for the autonomous car project.
The executive first started working on the project earlier this year when he took over teams handling the underlying software. Now he is overseeing the whole group, which also includes hardware engineering and work on self-driving car sensors, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the move isn't public.
Lynch replaces Doug Field, who recently revealed that he would be leaving Apple to work at Ford as the company's Chief Advanced Technology and Embedded Systems Officer. Jim Farley, Ford's Chief Executive Officer, said that Field's hiring is a "watershed moment for our company."
"This is a watershed moment for our company -- Doug has accomplished so much," Farley said in a briefing with reporters. "This is just a monumental moment in time that we have now to really remake" the automaker.
It's currently unclear if Lynch will stay in charge of the Apple Car project or if the move is a temporary measure. Apple's electric car is not expected to see a release until at least 2025, according to the latest rumors.
