INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Apple keeps adding autonomous vehicles to its test fleet in California, boosting its ranks 27 percent since May,according to records from
theCalifornia Department of Motor Vehicles.
The company now has 70 autonomous vehicles permitted to test on public roads, Mac Reports first
The permits, which are issued by CA DMV, require a safety driver to be behind the wheel.
Over the past 18 months, Apple has gone from just
three autonomous vehicles to 27 by January, 55 by May and now 70
GM Cruise has the most permitted autonomous test vehicles at 175, followed by Waymo with 88
Apple has the third-largest fleet.
The number of permitted test vehicles is one of the only ways to track what Apple is up to
The company doesn''t talk about its self-driving vehicle program.
The tech company permit with the CA DMV, the agency responsible for
monitoring AVs in the state, is the only official acknowledgment that it even has a program
Apple self-driving program has been considered an open secret in Silicon Valley
CEOTim Cookhas more recently made references to the company interest in autonomous systems.
Last month, the company disclosed its first
accident, according to a report filed with the CA DMV
The low-speed accident occurred August 24
The number of accidents involvingautonomous vehicles have become more common as companies put more of these self-driving cars on public
The vast majority are minor, low-speed incidents.
There was just one accident involving a self-driving vehicle (that one was owned by
Delphi) reported to the DMV in 2014
So far this year, there have been more than 40 accidents involving self-driving cars reported to CA DMV.
