Apple Is Working On Self-Driving Cars, Confirms Tim Cook

Well it’s official, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook has finally confirmed what the industry has been whispering for the last few years: Apple is working on autonomous vehicles.

In an interview with Bloomberg at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference, Cook gave some suitably vague answers but did at the very least confirm that Apple was working on “autonomous systems” in the car arena.

Simply translated, Apple is working on the software and hardware but not actually building its own car.

Calling it the “mother of all AI projects”, Cook went on to say that it was probably one of the most difficult projects that Apple has worked on.

Rumours have been circling for a number of years that Apple was in fact working on its very own self-driving car. The project was reportedly called “Titan” and would involve Apple building a vehicle similar to Google’s.

In December 2016 Apple did admit it was working on self-driving cars after it sent a letter to the US Highways Authority enthusing about a partnership between the two organisations.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration director of product integrity Steve Kenner added: “Apple looks forward to collaborating with NHTSA [National Highway Traffic Safety Administration] and other stakeholders so that the significant societal benefits of automated vehicles can be realized safely, responsibly, and expeditiously,”

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Cook’s latest comments also cement the view from analysts that a number of layoffs at Apple’s car division were because the company was shifting its focus.

Instead of building the cars themselves Apple would focus on the underlying technologies themselves such as obstacle avoidance, self-driving and many of the safety features needed to make an autonomous vehicle.

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