Skip to main content

Apple’s interest in self-driving cars reported to be revving up

apple file system
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Let the rumor mill start spinning again. It’s been a few years since Apple seemed to have interest in building its own car, but a new report from Reuters suggests the company still has vehicles on its mind –specifically self-driving ones. Apple is reportedly in discussions with a number of companies that sell next-generation lidar sensors, a technology that is essential to help autonomous vehicle systems understand what is around them.

Apple has reportedly had conversations with at least four companies about their lidar sensors, which provide a three-dimensional look at objects on the road. The window shopping is taking place while a unit at Apple is working on its own, first-party lidar sensor, according to the report. However, purchasing the sensors from a third-party might be cheaper for Apple — though the company is supposedly maintaining a high standard for its expectations as it shops around.

Assuming Apple’s interest in lidar sensors is real, it suggests that the company may not have abandoned its ambitions to build a vehicle. The company’s efforts to create a self-driving car, known as Project Titan, have long been rumored but very little has ever materialized from them. In 2017, a New York Times report said Apple had all but dropped the idea and was moving away from creating an Apple-branded self-driving car. But something must have sparked the company’s interest again. At the very least, it may be exploring the possibility of building autonomous vehicle hardware that could potentially be applied to cars produced by other vehicle manufacturers.

Apple’s apparent interest in lidar sensors aren’t the only indication the company is getting ready to get back in the autonomous vehicle race. The company has hired away a number of people who have background in self-driving car technology, including former employees of Tesla and Google. Even with some layoffs from its Project Titan division earlier this year, Apple has maintained a sizable group of employees who are working within the secretive division. According to Reuters, Apple still has about 1,200 people working on Project Titan. It also logged about 80,000 miles testing self-driving cars in California last year.

Editors' Recommendations

AJ Dellinger
AJ Dellinger is a freelance reporter from Madison, Wisconsin with an affinity for all things tech. He has been published by…
Apple wants to supercharge CarPlay, but here’s why carmakers won’t bite
Apple CarPlay interface

Apple is ready to take CarPlay to the next level. At last year's Wordwide Developers Conference, the company announced an all-new version of CarPlay that would not only serve as your car's infotainment system, but also take over the rest of the screens in the car, showing information about your speed and the car itself, alongside information pulled from your phone, like your calendar events and the weather.

When it was first announced, this new version of CarPlay was supposed to launch by the end of 2023. That means that if the new CarPlay launches on time, it should be right around the corner.

Read more
Waymo taps the brakes on its autonomous-trucking project
A Waymo autonomous trick undergoing testing on a highway.

Six years after launching its autonomous-truck program, Waymo has said it’s decided to focus more on developing its ridesharing ambitions using its self-driving cars and minivans.

The California-based, Alphabet-owned company said its decision to effectively put autonomous trucking on the back burner is down to the “tremendous momentum and substantial commercial opportunity” that it’s seeing with the pilot ridesharing service it launched in Arizona in 2018 before taking it to several other states. Customers involved in the program can use an app to call a Waymo driverless car in the same way they would book an Uber.

Read more
Volkswagen is launching its own self-driving car testing program in the U.S.
Volkswagen self-driving ID. Buzz in Austin

Volkswagen is taking autonomous driving a little more seriously. While the likes of Tesla and Waymo have largely led the development of next-gen driving tech, the legacy automakers are certainly starting to invest more heavily. To that end, Volkswagen has announced its first autonomous driving program in the U.S.

As part of the program, Volkswagen has outfitted 10 all-electric ID. Buzz vans with autonomous driving tech, in partnership with autonomous car tech company MobileEye. Over the next few years, Volkswagen says it'll grow this fleet of autonomous cars to cover at least four additional cities, with the current fleet operating in Austin, Texas. By 2026, Volkswagen hopes to commercially launch autonomous cars in Austin.

Read more