In a departure from past practice, Apple Inc. will use a fleet of outside software engineers to help it build an operating system for self-driving cars.

According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple has software engineers in Canada building a car operating system rather than executing research and development at its California headquarters.

The hires are part of Apple’s ongoing efforts to develop an electric car.Many of the engineers were hired over the past year, and more than 20 are reported to be from BlackBerry Ltd.’s QNX division, an automotive software provider.

According to the report, Apple sought out QNX engineers because of their experience developing fundamental components of operating systems and power management. The hires are part of Apple’s ongoing efforts to develop an electric car, an initiative known internally as Project Titan, Bloomberg says.

The car operating system is the software that will make functional a future Apple car platform. A separate Apple team is developing software that would guide future self-driving cars that would run on the same operating system.