{"id":126272,"date":"2018-05-16T12:02:36","date_gmt":"2018-05-16T16:02:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/?p=126272"},"modified":"2018-05-16T12:02:36","modified_gmt":"2018-05-16T16:02:36","slug":"apples-mysterious-autonomous-vehicle-program-is-rapidly-expanding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/2018\/05\/apples-mysterious-autonomous-vehicle-program-is-rapidly-expanding\/","title":{"rendered":"Apple\u2019s Mysterious Autonomous Vehicle Program is Rapidly Expanding"},"content":{"rendered":"
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CEO Tim Cook has finally begun to offer some hints as to Apple's self-driving car program.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While Apple has yet to say much about its long-rumored car program, some intriguing information has come out thanks to the California Department of Motor Vehicles, the DMV revealing that the tech giant now has permits to test up to 55 self-driving vehicles in the state.<\/p>\n

That would actually give Apple the ability to test even more vehicles than Waymo, the Google spinoff that has been far more open about its own autonomous ambitions \u2013 though less than General Motors, its San Francisco-based Cruise Automotive now holding permits for 104 test vehicles.<\/p>\n

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News You Can Trust!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And the DMV report does not cover other states where Apple might be testing, notably Nevada and Arizona, the two Southwest states that have positioned themselves as particularly friendly to autonomous vehicle researchers. Waymo, for example, is known to be running large fleet tests that may run into the hundreds of vehicles in Arizona, including both autonomous models requiring human backup \u201coperators\u201d and the first of its completely driverless prototypes.<\/p>\n

Apple has a history of declining to comment about its future tech programs, and its interest in self-driving vehicles has been no exception. But it has been dropping increasingly clear hints, starting with CEO Tim Cook\u2019s initial statement referring to the technology needed to make an autonomous vehicle work as \u201cthe mother of all AI.\u201d He finally confirmed the company does have some sort of program under way last summer.<\/p>\n

(Apple offers first\u00a0piece inside its self-driving car program. <\/em>Click Here<\/a><\/span>\u00a0for the story.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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A Fisker Emotion was spotted at Apple HQ in Silicon Valley last year. Could the tech firm be interested in using the EV as a platform for its autonomous system?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It also helped when Apple last December applied to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for a patent on a new \u201cautonomous navigation system.\u201d The technology, according to the application, is designed to operate \u201cindependently of any data received from any devices external to the vehicle and any navigation data stored locally to the vehicle prior to any monitoring of navigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The latest report from the California DMV indicates that Apple\u2019s test fleet has more than doubled from January, when it had permits for 27 vehicles. None has yet been approved for operating entirely without a backup operator onboard. Apple also has received approval for 83 operators in California.<\/p>\n

But what exactly it hopes to bring to market has been far from certain. It\u2019s been widely reported that the program, initially known as Project Titan, then scaled back sharply after hiring a number of automotive industry \u2013 as well as Tesla \u2013 veterans. Some reports suggested Apple had decided to cut back, even eliminate its auto project entirely.<\/p>\n

What now appears to be the case is that Apple has decided to follow a strategy closer to that of Waymo, rather than trying to compete directly with Tesla or General Motors:<\/p>\n