By Tripp Mickle and Tim Higgins
SAN FRANCISCO -- Apple Inc.'s secretive self-driving car project
is on course for a public debut.
The technology giant on Friday secured a permit for
autonomous-vehicle testing in California, the clearest sign to date
of progress in Apple's efforts to develop self-driving car
technology.
The permit, awarded by California's Department of Motor
Vehicles, is Apple's first for autonomous cars and allows it to
test drive vehicles on public roads in the largest U.S. state,
adding it to a list of rivals that includes Google parent Alphabet
Inc. and Tesla Inc. The move indicates Apple is going beyond
testing on private tracks and in simulators as it works to improve
artificial-intelligence systems that must learn to interact in the
unpredictable world of human drivers.
The Apple permit covers three 2015 Lexus sport-utility vehicles,
which would be retrofitted with hardware and software to be used in
autonomous mode. It also covers six human operators who must sit
behind the wheel to monitor the driving and take over when needed,
according to the DMV.
Apple has been working for years on self-driving cars -- an
effort dubbed Project Titan -- under a thick veil of secrecy. Its
first public statements about its car effort came in a November
letter to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
offering input on planned regulations governing automated
vehicles.
An Apple spokesman on Friday declined to comment on the permit
and referred to a statement in December, when the letter to
regulators became public, that said the company is investing
machine learning and autonomous systems.
The letter -- which said Apple was making those investments for
many purposes "including transportation" -- suggested Apple was
focusing on software that would control a self-driving car. That
aligned with other evidence that Apple's car effort had shifted
from building a car to designing an autonomous-driving system. Last
summer, for example, Apple eliminated some positions on Project
Titan focused on car development, and added software-focused
staff.
Its new approach is a departure for Apple, which typically tries
to control both the software and hardware of its products to
deliver a uniform user experience and maximize profits. It is alone
among major smartphone developers, for example, in using its own
operating-system software instead of Google's Android system -- a
strategy widely credited with helping Apple garner more than 90% of
profits in the global smartphone industry, according to Strategy
Analytics.
Neil Cybart, who runs Above Avalon, a site dedicated to Apple
analysis, said there could be similar value in controlling both the
software and hardware of a car. "One aspect of the auto industry
that needs to change is design and they're well suited with their
design philosophy because industrial designers (there) have more
sway than engineers," Mr. Cybart said.
California, the largest state by population, has been the major
testing ground for autonomous-vehicle technology. Apple rivals have
been testing their vehicles on the roads here for some time --
especially Waymo LLC, the Google sister company doing self-driving
cars. Waymo has been working on autonomous vehicles since 2009 and
has driven more than 2.5 million miles on public roads, including
635,868 last year in California.
"We're still in the first mile of the marathon of this race. At
this point, it's still up in the air who can take the lead," said
Dave Sullivan, an automotive analyst with consultancy AutoPacific
Inc.
Putting test vehicles on public roads opens Apple to more
scrutiny than it is accustomed to when developing products.
California requires companies with autonomous-car testing permits
to file public reports about their efforts, including crash
information and the number of times their human operators have to
take over from the computer. Other companies testing self-driving
technology -- including Waymo, Uber Technologies Inc. and General
Motors Co.'s Cruise Automation -- have put logos on their test
vehicles, adding to the attention. It is unclear if Apple's Lexus
vehicles will bear its logo.
With the scrutiny of public testing, any glitches can quickly
draw unwanted attention. Last month, for example, an Uber test
vehicle crashed in Tempe, Ariz., prompting Uber to suspend all such
testing briefly even though police said the tech company wasn't at
fault.
Uber had previously tried testing its cars in San Francisco
without a permit, drawing the ire of California officials. The
ride-hailing company pulled its vehicles from its hometown and
began testing in Arizona, before deciding to go back and obtain a
permit in California.
The revelation of Apple's interest in self-driving technology in
2015 sent shockwaves through the automotive industry, which had
been working on various research efforts but generally saw
autonomous vehicles as a far-off endeavor.
The technology, though still unproven and facing regulatory and
legal hurdles, has the potential to rewrite auto-makers role in an
industry that is a bedrock of the U.S. economy.
By 2030, about a quarter of all miles driven in the U.S. may be
done through autonomous, electric vehicles, according to a recent
study by the Boston Consulting Group.
Many of the developers that appear furthest along have said
commercial fleets, whether it is robot taxis or delivery vehicles,
are the most likely way the technology will first be deployed
Major questions remain about Apple's intentions.
"I'm not sure they know what their play will be, but they do
sense there's an opportunity and they can bring value to it," said
Ben Bajarin, an analyst with technology-research firm Creative
Strategies. "The question is: How big is this commitment? And how
much money are they throwing at this commitment? It's hard to know
where this lands on their priority list."
Write to Tripp Mickle at Tripp.Mickle@wsj.com and Tim Higgins at
Tim.Higgins@WSJ.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 14, 2017 15:08 ET (19:08 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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