Apple Confirms Acquisition of Drive.ai

Apple has confirmed the acquisition of Drive.ai, a company that uses artificial intelligence to make self-driving systems for cars. Apple confirmed the purchase and the hiring of dozens of Drive.ai engineers to Axios on Tuesday.

Drive.ai was established in 2015 through Stanford University's Artificial Intelligence Lab by a group of graduate and PhD students. The company ran one of the country's first self-driving on-demand services open to the general public in Arlington, Texas.

Apple's purchase includes Drive.ai's autonomous cars and other assets, according to sources. It likely paid less than the $77 million Drive.ai raised in venture capital and far less than the $200 million it was valued at two years ago.


Drive.ai will permanently close its doors in California and lay off 90 employees. Employees hired by Apple will join other engineers working on Project Titan, the company's secretive autonomous vehicle project.

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