Tech giant Apple well advanced with autonomous car - report

Apple chiefs are believed to have paid an interest in BMW's electric i3

A report by British publication The Guardian suggests that Apple is searching for secure locations in which to test a self-driving vehicle

Technology giant Apple is well underway with development of a self-driving car and is scouting secure locations in which to test it, according to a report by The Guardian website.

The British publication has reported that members of Apple’s Special Project group have been negotiating with a former naval base near San Francisco, with a view to turning the facility into a testing ground for driverless vehicles.

The site, named GoMentum Station, has 20 miles of paved highways and city streets, which would make it ideal to test autonomous tech away from public scrutiny.

The Guardian – which used a public records act request to acquire documentation that detailed correspondence between Apple and GoMentum officials – also reports that Apple has engineers working on automotive technology in Sunnyvale, California.

Rumours of an Apple car stretch back to 2007, and it was known to be a desire of late company boss Steve Jobs, who died in 2011.

The company’s autonomous car development plan is said to go under the codename  ‘Project Titan’, and has acquired top-ranking staff from automotive giants such as Ford, Chrysler and Mercedes-Benz. In recent years Apple has also been increasing its ties with automotive companies via its CarPlay connectivity system.

Apple chiefs are also known to have toured BMW's factory in Leipzig early this year. 

Source: Autocar RSS Feed http://bit.ly/1hD0NnE