Apple Ramps Up Testing of Self Driving Vehicles

Apple has ramped up its testing of self driving vehicles in recent months, according to a report from the Financial Times. The company now has more autonomous vehicle permits in California than Waymo, Uber, and Tesla.

All three are now exceeded by Apple’s testing fleet, which has expanded rapidly in recent months. After first receiving a permit to test just three autonomous vehicles in April last year, that figure jumped to 27 in January. It has almost doubled since then to 45 vehicles, according to DMV figures provided to the Financial Times.

Apple is now second to General Motors' Cruise which has 110 cars being tested on California roads.


Arizona is the most popular state for testing of self-driving vehicles. There are over 600 on the road. An executive order from governor Doug Ducey was updated this month to allow 'fully autonomous' systems to operate without a human driver as long as they meet federal safety standards. It's unclear how that order might be affected following an accident in which a self-driving Uber vehicle (with a human operator behind the wheel) killed a pedestrian in Phoenix. A preliminary report suggests the vehicle was not to blame; however, Uber has suspended all testing of its autonomous vehicles for the time being.

Check out some photos and video of Apple's autonomous testing vehicle here.

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