Date: February 06, 2024. – Apple has been quietly working on a self-driving car project for years. The company has been very secretive about its autonomous vehicle ambitions, but new data from the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) reveals that Apple has significantly increased its testing of the self-driving technology on public roads. The company is conducting research and development to improve its autonomous driving technology, which it aims to use in future products. it is reportedly investing billions of dollars into the development of self-driving cars.
According to DMV documents, Apple logged nearly 450,000 miles of autonomous driving in the United States between December 2022 and November 2023. This distance is more than four times the distance it drove the previous year. The majority of the testing miles were logged in the second half of 2023. August was the top month, with Apple driving 83,900 miles of autonomous testing.
Apple has an authorization to test self-driving cars in California, but only with a safety driver behind the wheel. In contrast to competitors like as Waymo, Zoox, and Cruise, the business has not secured a permit to perform autonomous or passenger testing in the state. These businesses have documented millions of kilometers of testing with and without human drivers. They have also conducted tests with passengers on board.
Apple’s self-driving car project, codenamed Project Titan, has been through several ups and downs since it was first reported in 2015. The company initially aimed to develop a fully electric autonomous car. Later, it scaled back its ambitions and focused on the software and hardware components of the self-driving technology. In 2022, Apple hired Desi Ujkashevic, a former Ford executive, to help with the development of its autonomous car.
Apple is reportedly working on a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technology. This would enable its cars to communicate with each other and with Internet of Things (IoT) devices. This could enhance the safety and efficiency of the self-driving system. It could also provide new features and services for the users.
