According to new figures obtained by the Financial Times, it appears that Apple has nearly doubled the number of self-driving vehicles it has in its California fleet. Apple now has 45 autonomous test vehicles registered with the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles, which is an up from 27 in late January. To put it into perspective, that’s more than companies like Uber and Waymo.
We have very little information regarding Apple’s self-driving program, codenamed Project Titan. Apple’s fleet is made up of Lexus RX450h SUVs, and are equipped with huge ranks of LIDAR and radar sensors, as well as lots of cameras. Previously, CEO Tim Cook confirmed that the company reduced its focus from developing a full self-driving car to just working on software back in 2016.
That’s pretty much all we know. Apple’s car are spotted quite often, but we don’t have any hard information to know what exactly the company is doing. Last April was when the company’s first permits were granted. Research firm Navigant recently scored Apple below almost every other company that is currently testing self-driving vehicles in California, based on categories like execution, technology and strategy, but did say that Apple has “existing capabilities that make it uniquely positioned to participate in the automated driving space.”
