Apple has massively ramped up its driverless car efforts in recent months, according to a new report.
The Financial Times has revealed that Apple’s local autonomous vehicle count has almost doubled since January.
In April of last year, Apple received a permit to operate three driverless cars in the state of California. By January of this year, the company’s high-tech garage had swelled to 27 vehicles.
Now the latest California Department of Motor Vehicles figures have revealed that Apple is permitted to put as many as 45 autonomous cars on the road. This figure means that Apple is currently one of the top testers right in the heart of autonomous car technology.
By way of a comparison, electric car pioneer Tesla has a California permit for 39 driverless cars, while smart taxi service Uber has 29. Meanwhile, the company that many perceive to be the front runner in driverless car technology – the Google-affiliated Waymo – has recently dropped its autonomous car count in the state to just 24.
In fact, Apple is second only to General Motors for autonomous car testing in California right now. The American automobile giant holds permits for 110 vehicles.
Apple has seemingly made some kind of breakthrough with its secretive autonomous vehicle initiative of late. Hopefully that means we’ll be hearing something concrete about the long-fabled Apple Car in the not too distant future.