Apple confirms they’re working on “the future of transportation”
It’s been a widely open secret that Apple has been working on an autonomous vehicle. In a recently uncovered letter, Apple’s director of product integrity comments on the recently announced plan from the U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S DOT). In the U.S DOT’s statement they claimed that they are dedicated to keeping roads safe with the introduction of “highly automated vehicles” (HAVs). The DOT also claimed they were trying not to suffocate companys with lots of restrictions.
Apple uses machine learning to make its products and services smarter, more intuitive, and more personal. The company is investing heavily in the study of machine learning and automation, and is excited about the potential of automated systems in many areas, including transportation.
The Cupertino firm goes on to state that both established manufacturers and “new entrants” should be treated equally. This is an important factor as Apple is new to the auto industry and doesn’t want their progress to be hindered because they’re not as widely known as Ford or Toyota.
Apple has told the Financial Times:
We’ve provided comments to NHTSA because Apple is investing heavily in machine learning and autonomous systems,” the Apple spokesman said. “There are many potential applications for these technologies, including the future of transportation, so we want to work with NHTSA to help define the best practices for the industry.
A few months ago it was discovered that Apple has halted progress on its “Project Titan,” Apple’s alleged code name for their car and is instead working on a self driving platform. Most of the other big players in the industry are expecting to release their self-driving platforms around 2020-2021 although Tesla has already implemented self driving technology in its new vehicles.
Nothing too major was revealed in Apple’s letter, but they did finally confirm that the company is working on and investing in an autonomous driving system (which we’ve speculated about for months).