Sources confirm that Apple is now working on a new self-driving vehicle in Silicon Valley, and is on the look for secure locations in the Bay Area to test it out.
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In May, engineers met with officials from GoMentum Station, a 2,100-acre former naval base near San Francisco, in a bid to set up a high-security site. And they’re not the only ones who have done so, with Mercedes-Benz and Honda also conducting experiments there with their own self-driving cars. The base is close to the public with military guarding the perimeter. At the moment, Apple has refused to comment on the matter. In late May, one letter reveals, GoMentum Station’s Jack Hall – who is the site’s program manager for autonomous vehicles – wrote to Apple to postpone an upcoming tour. Hall said his agency hopes to partner with other companies for testing self-driving cars and “connected vehicles” – cars that use the Internet and local networks to exchange a variety of information with other devices and vehicles.
The correspondence isn’t the only sign that Apple is gearing up to make cars.
We already knew Apple was doing something car-related, codenamed Titan, but we didn’t know exactly what it was.
The report also notes Fearon asking GoMentum Officils for a presentation regarding the testing ground and how the vast land can be used including photos and layouts. “The 5,000-acre former navy weapons station, featuring 20 miles of paved roadway, is the largest secure test facility in the world and will become the center of CV/AV research”.
“You can’t tell anyone anything about your job”, this intern said said. Apple might well be at or near a point where it wants to test a self-driving system, but that has nothing to do with how far along development of the actual vehicle might be.
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Reports first suggested that Apple was working on designs for a auto back in February, although some believe it is more likely that it is interested in developing software to be used in cars.
