Apple granted permit to publicly test self-driving cars in California
- apr
- 14
Apple has officially been granted a permit to test driverless vehicles in the state of California. According to the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), the state has issued a permit to Apple. Additionally, as of April 14, 2017, Apple is the most recent recipient of such a permit.
California has granted self-driving testing permits to the following companies (via Business Insider):
- Volkswagen Group of America
- Mercedes Benz
- Delphi Automotive
- Tesla Motors
- Bosch
- Nissan
- GM Cruise LLC
- BMW
- Honda
- Ford
- Zoox, Inc.
- Drive.ai, Inc.
- Faraday & Future Inc.
- Baidu USA LLC
- Wheego Electric Cars Inc.
- Valeo North America, Inc.
- NextEV USA, Inc.
- Telenav, Inc.
- NVIDIA Corporation
- AutoX Technologies Inc
- Subaru
- Udacity, Inc
- Navya Inc.
- Renovo Motors Inc
- UATC LLC (Uber)
- PlusAi Inc
- Nuro, Inc
- CarOne LLC
- Apple Inc.
Apple has long been rumored to be working on an autonomous electric vehicle under the moniker "Project Titan," though it had previously been rumored that the project was facing difficulties.
While none of this means that Apple absolutely will manufacture a self-driving car, it does tell us, conclusively that they have been working on the technology. After all, on of the requirements for receiving this permit is that manufacturers have tested their self-driving vehicle on a closed course in simulated traffic conditions. Whether this means that Apple will offer its own car to the public at some point or is creating a system to be used by other manufacturers remains to be seen.