Apple Said to Near Road Tests of Self-Driving Car Software

Apple Said to Near Road Tests of Self-Driving Car Software

Apple will soon take its self-driving car software platform to public streets for the first time, a major step that gets the world’s largest technology company into a crowded race to transform transportation, according to Bloomberg.

The company was granted approval by the California Department of Motor Vehicles to test autonomous driving technology on public roads, according to a notice on the DMV’s website on Friday. This is the first time Apple has received approval to test its technology on public streets.

Apple will soon begin testing self-driving car software with existing vehicles, according to a person familiar with the matter. The company started developing a self-driving car to take on Google and Tesla a few years ago before it pulled back and focused on first developing underlying autonomous technology last year.

The tests are the clearest, public sign yet that Apple is serious about a nascent field that could, in time, transform mobility and upend the auto industry. An Apple spokesman declined to comment beyond a statement issued in December when Apple filed paperwork with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration regarding safety practices for self-driving cars.

The DMV’s website was updated Friday to acknowledge Apple becoming a permit holder. A March 30 copy of the website does not list Apple as having approval, indicating it was granted within the last two weeks. The permit requires companies to disclose traffic incidents related to their testing within 10 business days of the event.

Apple’s self-driving technology is being developed in secret company offices in Sunnyvale, California, a short drive from its main Cupertino campus. The company also has a team in Canada working on a car operating system that would power the platform, people familiar with the matter have said. The self-driving car platform is designed so that Apple could choose to open it up to existing carmakers or eventually port it to an Apple-designed vehicle.