Apple Inc confirmed that it was working on developing technology for self driving cars in a letter to the U.S. highway regulator.
Apple’s director of product integrity, Steve Kenner, said in a letter to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), “The company is investing heavily in the study of machine learning and automation, and is excited about the potential of automated systems in many areas, including transportation.”
The five-page letter stressed on the importance of safety testing of self driving cars, and said that certain areas of the software would require special attention, as it would have to make decisions in situations that could be potentially dangerous.
The letter, dated Nov. 22, talked of the “significant societal benefits of automated vehicles”, and proposed that data on crashes and near misses be shared to facilitate a better design. At the same time, it said, “Data sharing should not come at the cost of privacy.” It suggested that the data shared should have “de-identified scenarios and dynamics-data”. It also called for an equal treatment of “established manufacturers and new entrants” to the industry.
For nearly two years, Apple has been rumoured to have an interest in self driving technology, with this letter being the first direct indication from the company itself. There have also been reports over the last year that top secret labs in Sunnyvale, California- set up as part of its car program, Project Titan- were being manned by over 1,000 engineers and personnel.
It had also been speculated that Apple was in talks with British car manufacturer, McLaren, but it was downplayed. The letter, however does not say whether a physical product would be created, or just the software to run one.
Besides Apple, several other companies have been investing in self driving technology for cars, including Google, Volkswagen, Ford, and Elon Musk’s Tesla.
However, on the downside of the development of such technology, analysts predict that it could cause a lot of people in the automobile industry to lose their space.
