14 DAY TRIAL // As reported by The Guardian, high-level Apple executives met with DMV officials in California to discuss matters related to its long-rumored autonomous automobile program.
The meeting took place on September 17 between Apple's senior legal counsel Mike Maletic and DMV's co-sponsors of the regulation project for self-driving vehicles, Bernard Soriano, and Stephanie Dougherty.
This meeting comes as no surprise, given that Apple has been rumored to work on its self-driving cars for some time now. However, the guys from Cupertino might have to get past their traditional secrecy, given that all car manufacturers that want to test their autonomous automobiles in California have to give out all kinds of details.
Furthermore, if and when Apple receives a permit to test their self-driving cars in California, they will be among the other companies that had already received one until September 4th. A detailed list of all the companies that take part in the autonomous testing program in California is available on DMV's website.
Apple's self-driving cars soon to hit the road or California's autonomous vehicle testing tracks
Apple might have already tested its autonomous cars on any of its properties that can be fitted with a test track, and the latest DMV discussions come as an almost certain hint at the late stage of Apple's self-driving vehicles project.
Moreover, as disclosed by The Guardian, Apple has been working on this project in a research complex in Sunnyvale that is almost impossible to get in even by city inspectors due to Apple's tight-lips policy.
This report might or might not be a definitive sign that Apple will unveil its self-driving vehicle in the near future, but according to previous reports by the Wall Street Journal and by Reuters, Apple is definitely with its foot in the door of the autonomous cars business, to spend some of its cash, if not to be a market leader.
But, as we all know Apple, once it sets its target and starts organizing app engineering teams for a project, releasing the most profitable product for that market is only a matter of time.
