Apple's rumored project to build a self-driving car may be gaining speed.
According to documents obtained by The Guardian, one of Apple's senior legal counsel, Mike Maletic, had an hour-long meeting with prominent self-driving car policymakers at the California DMV, as detailed in a Friday report. Apple is rumored to be developing a self-driving car under the codename Project Titan and has hired many auto industry veterans.
Maletic reportedly met with the two co-sponsors of California's autonomous vehicle regulation program, Bernard Soriano, deputy director of the California DMV, and Stephanie Doughrety, chief of strategic planning. Brian Soublet, deputy director and chief counsel at the California DMV, is said to have also been present.
Apple declined to comment to The Guardian and a spokesperson simply said the meeting was to review the state's autonomous vehicle regulations.The California DMV issues permits to automakers who wish to test self-driving cars on the public road, with permits granted to Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, Google, Tesla Motors and others.
Last month, The Guardian reported Apple approached GoMentum Station, a highly secure self-driving car testing facility outside San Francisco. Supposedly nothing definitive has come of those talks, but it's likely that GoMentum could be a location where Apple tests its automotive product.
It was originally reported in February that Apple has over 1,000 employees working on Project Titan, many coming from high-level positions at automotive companies. One of its most recent hires is Jamie Carlson, an engineer from Tesla Motors who worked on its Autopilot program.
Apple hasn't officially said anything about Project Titan (aside from a quick joke at its recent iPhone 6S event), but prominent people at the company have been dropping subtle hints at its automotive ambitions. Apple Senior VP, Jeff Williams, said "The car is the ultimate mobile device," at the 2015 Code Conference, and designer Marc Newson said that modern car design was "at the bottom of a trough," in a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal
Even still, this doesn't tell us anything definitive.
The Guardian suggests the Apple car is "almost ready for public view," but this is a dubious conclusion. While Apple is undoubtedly headed in the direction of developing an automotive product more advanced than CarPlay, a meeting with policymakers does not unequivocally mean Apple is going to launch a car at its next iPhone event, or ever.
Cars are complex machines and require a completely different manufacturing process than iPhones and MacBooks. If Apple were to build its own car, and not just car technology, it's years away.
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