Electric carmaker Tesla Motors Inc has hired a key Apple Inc software engineer to oversee its Autopilot self-driving software efforts, Tesla said in a blog post Tuesday. Later in the day, Tesla posted a message on the company's website saying that Lattner had been hired as vice president of Autopilot software but did not say when he would start work there. Tesla's Autopilot was overseen on an interim basis by the software chief Jinnah Hosein of SpaceX, which is also headed by Tesla chief executive officer Elon Musk. Autopilot is the hardware and software system on Tesla vehicles that allows self-driving in some situations but still requires drivers to keep their hands on the steering wheel. The move was a first for Apple, which until then had typically tightly controlled the technology it created.

Source: The Star January 11, 2017 02:16 UTC