Rumors related to "Apple Car" (supposed electric / autonomous car from Ma) have cooled a lot in the last few months, but now something can rekindle that flame: as informed by Business Insider, Apple today received a permit to test autonomous cars on the streets of California.
The confirmation is there, for those who want to see it, on the official website of the Department of Motor Vehicles of the State of California (Department of Motor Vehicles, or DMV).
The company, of course, is not alone in this endeavor with it, 29 other companies (from the automotive, technology market, etc.) have also received the benefit of the department.
According to the DMV, any manufacturer of autonomous technologies must request this permission before being able to test autonomous vehicles on public roads in the State.
According to MacRumors, this license requires several steps, including providing details of each specific vehicle to be tested, suggesting that Apple may already have some type of prototype ready to be put on the street.
If the company is going to test a car in the next days / weeks / months, it is still unknown; however, if you do so, public documents (that is, which can be accessed by us, mere mortals), must be completed.
More than that: all companies participating in the Autonomous Vehicle Testing Program must submit reports describing how many kilometers their cars have covered.
That is, if Apple decides to test a car, several documents will pop up by!
Apparently we will see more and more news related to the "Apple Car" now.
The coming months will be interesting
Update · 4/17/2017 s 12:47
According to Bloomberg, Apple actually started testing a software / platform for autonomous cars (and not a Ma car itself).
Even so, in the permission given there are references to tests on the Lexus RX450h car, model 2015, with up to six people inside.
