Apple’s Self-Driving Lexus Spotted Cruising Around Cali
Sighting confirms Apple’s ambitious autonomous project.
When Apple first sought permission to test autonomous vehicle technology in the state of California, it raised a ton of questions. Namely, would the tech giant be building their own car, or simply develop and sell the technology? While we don’t yet know the answer to that question, we do know the type of vehicle they’re using to test that tech. Because this self-driving Lexus was recently spotted cruising around Silicon Valley.
The shots are courtesy of an astute driver who noticed the self-driving Lexus RX 450h pull out of an Apple facility this week. Bloomberg was able to obtain the photos, as well as a short video of the SUV in motion. Fitted with all sorts of sensors, radar, and cameras, it’s kind of hard not to notice. Bloomberg notes that the Lexus has range topping 64-channel lidar from Velodyne Lidar Inc. and sensors that appear to be off-the-shelf items.
The autonomous vehicle project is known internally as “Project Titan.” And the fact that Apple has finally been able to begin testing is a pretty big deal, since the project actually started a full year ago. According to sources at the time, Apple’s original intentions were to build their own self-driving car. But they’ve since shifted that focus to developing autonomous software that can be sold to existing automakers.
Apple is the latest of 30 companies that have received permits to test self-driving cars on California streets. All three of their autonomous vehicles are RX’s. But they aren’t the only ones using the Lexus SUV as a test bed. Both Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo and Zoox Inc. are also using RX 450’s in their efforts to develop self-driving software.
Here’s the car that #Apple‘s using to test its autonomous car technology. Story with @mhbergen. https://t.co/jHLnJDRjoS pic.twitter.com/zTezUmcZwC
— Alex Webb (@atbwebb) April 27, 2017
