Apple Car to do a Tesla by featuring a custom centrally integrated carOS for navigation and infotainment

Rumors of an impending Apple Car aren't new, and it is becoming increasingly clear by now that we will eventually get to see an electric vehicle from Apple. Now, a new report states that Apple will develop a custom OS like Tesla to control various aspects of the car and driving.

According to a report by Digitimes citing supply chain sources, it is being learnt that Apple will develop a "centrally integrated operating system like Tesla". This centrally integrated OS will control all aspects of the car including navigation, lane control, Apple Music integration, air conditioning, etc.

The report also states that a Korean company "will assist in the development of a self-driving sensor", which forms part of a Domain Control Unit (DCU). The DCU is the component that handles all on-board sensor data processing. As reported previously, the Apple Car's DCU is likely to be based on a similar architecture as the M1 SoC and will be developed in association with Korean companies, who will also test out the SoC's neural processing unit (NPU) for reactions to road conditions and driver input.

Tesla cars use a custom OS based on Linux running on an Intel Atom E3950 processor. The OS integrates all car functions, though the Atom processor is a microprocessor control unit (MCU) designed to handle only infotainment. The 2022 Model 3 and Model Y finally make the shift to AMD Ryzen CPUs for vastly improved performance and responsiveness.

With the Apple Car, Apple's SoC should be quite capable of handling both driving and infotainment functions. The centrally integrated "carOS" would then be much more than just a glorified CarPlay experience.

We have been hearing reports that Apple has dissolved the team responsible for the Car's development. However, the above report indicates that Apple is not letting up on its self-driving vehicle ambitions and will likely get the team reorganized in the next few months for a possible launch at least by 2025.

Buy the Apple iPhone 13 (Unlocked, Renewed) on Amazon