Apple in talks with California government about self-driving cars

Apple last month consulted with the government of its home state of California about the rules surrounding driving self-driving cars on the road. That could indicate that Apple wants to present a self-driving car soon.

The meeting took place in mid-August and the department where the consultation took place has confirmed that it has spoken with Apple about “rules around self-driving cars,” reports The Guardian. Apple currently doesn’t have hardware related to self-driving cars, but it does offer CarPlay, an iOS service that allows drivers to control parts of their smartphones in the car.

Last month it was already revealed that Apple had contacted about renting a test location for self-driving cars near San Francisco. If the manufacturer wants to test self-driving cars on public roads, it would have to release a lot of information about the car, which prevents secrecy until unveiling. Apple may also have built a secret location to test the car, according to The Guardian.

According to previous rumors, it is a converted BMW i3. The paper states that Apple has already appointed an engineering program manager for the car, which it would develop under the name Project Titan. Such a manager is mainly in China to prepare for mass production after a product has been developed. That would indicate that the presentation of the car is not far away, claims The Guardian.

Mockup: a BMW i3 with Apple logo