zzdcar
Home
/
Reviews
/
Tech
/
Apple's Self-Driving Car Program Is Legit
Apple's Self-Driving Car Program Is Legit-October 2024
2024-02-19 EST 22:10:40

Apple’s secretive car program last year, but the tech giant never gave up on the self-driving car race. And now it’s taking a step forward, with California regulators announcing Friday that Apple has received a permit to test autonomous vehicles on state roads.

It’s the first peep from Apple on the self-driving car front since December, when a letter to federal regulators from Apple’s director of product integrity, Steve Kenner, emerged. Kenner wrote the letter to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to comment on the agency’s new self-driving car guidelines, and said Apple is “investing heavily in the study of machine learning and automation, and is excited about the potential of automated systems in many areas, including transportation.”

After years of being shrouded in mystery, Apple’s car program came to a screeching halt this year…

Apparently, Apple wasn’t kidding around.

“Today, April 14, 2017, the California Department of Motor Vehicles issued Apple Inc. an autonomous vehicle test permit,” the DMV said in a statement to Jalopnik.

California mandates that any company looking to test AVs must apply for an autonomous driving permit. Any company who receives a permit must file an annual report on its “disengagement rate”—that is, the number of times a driver had to re-assume control of the vehicle.

To what extent Apple plans to test on California roads isn’t clear; the company didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. But the DMV said Apple’s permit covers three vehicles—all 2015 Lexus RX450h—and six drivers are approved to sit behind the wheel. California recently that would allow for vehicles without a driver on the road.

Comments
Welcome to zzdcar comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Tech
Apple Patents A System For Self-Driving Cars That Could Make Navigating Easier And More Efficient
Apple Patents A System For Self-Driving Cars That Could Make Navigating Easier And More Efficient
After scaling back its ambitious car plans in 2016, Apple spent this year quietly immersing itself in the field of self-driving cars, and a new patent shows the company’s thinking of more efficient ways for autonomous vehicles to get around. The patent application was published on Thursday and it has...
Oct 19, 2026
Faraday Future's Boss Ordered To Return To China To Address His Mountain Of Debt: Report
Faraday Future's Boss Ordered To Return To China To Address His Mountain Of Debt: Report
If recent reports are accurate, electric car startup Faraday Future recently netted a $1 billion investment and, in turn, named Chinese tech entrepreneur Jia Yueting its CEO. But by the end of 2017, Jia needs to return to China to sort out a mountain of debt his other companies have...
Oct 19, 2026
Jaguar's All-Electric I-Pace Could Start At $76,000
Jaguar's All-Electric I-Pace Could Start At $76,000
Ahead of Jaguar Land Rover’s launch of its first all-electric vehicle, the I-Pace, there’s now reports of the car’s price-point for. when it goes into production. If reports from early reservation pan out, the crossover could come close to the base price of a Tesla Model X. Early reservation holders...
Oct 19, 2026
Ex-Faraday Future Employees Will Keep The Dream Alive At New Electric Car Startups
Ex-Faraday Future Employees Will Keep The Dream Alive At New Electric Car Startups
Two new startups are joining the electric car world—and both include executives and employees who recently departed Faraday Future, according to a new report and a source who spoke to Jalopnik. The news comes just a month after a round of top executives departed the company, including former chief financial...
Oct 19, 2026
Nearly 10 Percent Of Uber's Drivers In The U.K. Are Working More Than 60 Hours Per Week
Nearly 10 Percent Of Uber's Drivers In The U.K. Are Working More Than 60 Hours Per Week
It’s well-known that some Uber drivers , but a new letter from the company offers some additional insight into how many seem to be plowing through most of their week behind the wheel. Uber has about 50,000 drivers in Britain, and nearly a third are logged into the app more...
Oct 19, 2026
We're About To Be Swamped With New Electric Cars And Everyone's Blah About It
We're About To Be Swamped With New Electric Cars And Everyone's Blah About It
The growing hype this year around electric cars is about to be met with a daunting reality: despite the fact that dozens of new electrified models are set to roll out in the coming years, few have interest in buying them right now. That’s the upshot of a today. Though...
Oct 19, 2026
Copyright 2023-2026 - www.zzdcar.com All Rights Reserved