On Friday, California’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) updated its website to reflect that Apple now has a permit to test self-driving cars on public roads.
Apple has been hiring automotive experts—particularly those with experience in autonomous driving—for years. (In 2015, Tesla CEO Elon Musk even taunted Apple by saying, “If you don’t make it at Tesla, you go work at Apple.”) But Apple has long kept quiet about its aspirations. That began to change in December, when the company wrote a letter to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration saying that it was “investing heavily” in machine learning to support autonomous systems, especially in transportation.
The update on the California DMV website confirms that after years of speculation, Apple is serious about building self-driving car software.
According to Bloomberg, Apple’s California permit “covers three 2015 Lexus RX540h SUVs and six drivers.” Ars contacted Apple for more information, but we have not yet received a response.
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