The state's Department of Motor Vehicles issued a permit for Apple to begin testing self-driving vehicles in California.
Among the list of permitted companies is also ride-sharing company Uber, who carried out autonomous testing without a permit in California previous year. Examples of companies holding autonomous testing permits in California include Google, Tesla, and Bosch. So, despite laying off or reassigning "hundreds" of people who had been working on the secretive Project Titan auto project, Apple seems to have perhaps just pivoted and may be interested in developing its own version of a self-driving apparatus that they can then sell to other companies.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Apple's permit covers three 2015 Lexus SUVs and six different drivers who must sit behind the wheel to monitor the driving and takeover when needed.
Apple may now be the latest company set to enter the what has become known as "the driverless vehicle race".
Self-driving cars also are likely to yield a gold mine, another reason that Apple is exploring an expansion beyond its main business of making phones, tablets and personal computers.
It's still unclear whether this means that Apple will be manufacturing entire cars, or just developing the software that enables them to operate autonomously.
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Apple has long kept its interest in self-driving technology under the radar.
On April 25th, the California DMV will hold another public hearing on Driverless Autonomous Vehicles regulations, after the initial 45-day consultation period, eventually working in some details already garnered from the vehicle testing and their deployment in California.
Apple has released scant details about its autonomous vehicle efforts, dubbed Project Titan, an effort it hasn't even formally acknowledged.
Apple is now among the thirty or so companies that have a permit to test self-driving cars in the State of California.
Asked for comment on Friday's developments, an Apple spokesperson referred back to the company's December statement regarding the statements given to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
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