Apple's Self-driving Car to be Unveiled Very Soon?

Apple looks like its taking a step forward in putting their self-driven car in public roads. According to a report from The Guardian, executives from the tech giant held a meeting with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) in California, which means that the company is close to unveiling the highly anticipated driver-less vehicle.

The news outlet obtained documents which showed Apple's senior legal counsel, Mike Maletic, having an hour-long meeting on Aug. 17 with individuals from the DMV who are connected to autonomous vehicle regulation. These include DMV deputy director Bernard Soriano, chief of strategic planning Stephanie Dougherty and the department's deputy director and chief counsel Brian Soublet.

However, no comments have been received from the DMV apart from saying that “the Apple meeting was to review [the] DMV’s autonomous vehicle regulations.”

BGR notes that with Apple's history of taking their time to unveiling their projects, such as the Apple Watch, which has been in the works for three years before being finally announced, Apple's self-driven car or "Project Titan" might be "the first Apple product to be confirmed well ahead of an announcement."

The site further notes that according to current government regulations, carmakers who want to test drive their products on public roads must first get permission from the DMV. This means that any information submitted by the tech giant to the California DMV will be available for the public.

The Guardian states that the DMV have currently issued 10 permits for 80 autonomous vehicles with 300 test drivers. Recent companies who have been green lit are Honda and BMW.

However, the news outlet argues that if Apple will push through in testing their vehicles in the California roads, they will "sacrifice much of its legendary preference for secrecy."

An alternative way is testing their product in a private facility. Last month, Latinos Post reported that Apple is securing testing sites within the San Francisco Bay area, and have met with executives of GoMentum Station, a 5-000 acre secure testing facility for autonomous vehicles.

Apple's approach of "secrecy" for Project Titan is very much different from Google. According to Wired, the company has publicly announced their effort in creating and testing different prototypes for their self-driven vehicle. These prototypes have been tested in the company's headquarters in Mountain View. Also, according to USA Today, Uber is joining the autonomous vehicle bandwagon. It is reportedly creating a self-driven car and has hired several robotics engineers from Carnegie Mellon University