Apple discussing “self-driving” car concept in California

Apple officials have held talks with the DMV of California regarding their plans to develop driverless vehicles, with the company facing pretty stern opposition in their quest to a potentially lucrative market.

Reports from The Guardian suggest that Apple's senior legal counsel, Mike Maletic, held a meeting with the deputy director of California's DMV (department of motor vehicles), Bernard Soriano, and other senior officials on August 17th. It is believed that the meeting took place in order to discuss the development of autonomous regulations.

GameZone has already reported previous car development plans on Apple's part, with the most recent given a codename: "Project Titan." This idea, much like many others, has been kept under wraps, however we understand this type of secrecy could prove difficult with a project of this type.

When applying for a testing permit for this potential self-driving vehicle, Apple will have to specifically provide details of each tester driver, autonomous features, car make – which is highly touted to be a BMW at this stage, – car model and the VIN of each car that will be tested.

BMW and Nissan are among the car manufacturers to already be granted permits in California last week. 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.

At an industry event Bernard Soriano said the following: “Candidly, the regulations that get developed in California could be utilised by National Highway Traffic Safety Administration when it is in a position to develop federal regulations."

The innovation of everyday vehicles has seemingly become a real target market for not only Apple but Uber and Google as well. In fact, many of Google's self-driving prototypes have been spotted whizzing around Austin, Texas today (above) – accompanied by company officials of course.

Google have been testing driverless cars for some time now, having already developed many self-driving Lexus SUV's in the last few months.

The Google fleet have reportedly travelled around 1,158,818 miles since starting the project around five years ago, with each self-driving vehicle working around 10,000 miles per week. So, it looks like Apple have got some work to do, especially if they want to catch up with Google and their plans.

[Guardian]