The publication reveals that Apple’s senior legal counsel Mike Maletic was in an hour-long meeting with senior members of DMV, who hold key positions in autonomous driving.
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According to current regulations, any carmaker looking to test self-driving cars on public roads has to receive the okay from the DMV – in this case California’s DMV – meaning that all the information Apple would have to submit would become public.
Google have been testing driverless cars for some time now, having already developed many self-driving Lexus SUV’s in the last few months. Present at the meeting were Bernard Soriano and Stephanie Dougherty, DMV deputy director and chief of strategic planning respectively, and who are co-sponsors on the autonomous vehicle regulation project in the state.
Such regulations will need to be adhered to by auto manufacturers, otherwise the vehicles won’t be allowed to operate on California’s roads.
Previous rumours that support Apple’s autonomous vehicle include employees saying Apple is working on a project to give Tesla a run for its money. For those wondering: “but why California?” right now, it is the expectancy that California will influence the national driving regulations in the United States in the near future, so if anything is approved there then it could stand itself in good stead moving forward.
Several companies are already developing or are considering developing autonomous vehicles.
As The Guardian reports, Apple will have to offer details of the make, model and vehicle identification number of the cars they want to test, explain autonomous features and identify test drivers by name. The most recent, Honda and BMW, received their permits last week. EPMs generally arrive on an Apple project once a product is ready to leave the lab, and coordinate the work of teams of hardware and software engineers.
The fact that Apple is approaching the DMV now suggests that its autonomous vehicle, whatever it might be, is nearly ready for public view. While Apple showed interest in the facility, it’s not believed to have started testing there.
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Nonetheless, Apple is certainly focusing its research on some heavy-hitters. Apple will also have to report any accident or automation malfunction to the department within ten days of the incident.
