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Apple Among Tech Giants To Make Moves Toward Self-Driving Trucks, Begins California Testing Plans

by Jake Tully - Published: 4/29/2017

Earlier this week, Apple Inc was among several technology and corporate giants to ask the state of California to become more stringent with their existing laws regarding self-driving vehicles.

This request from Apple, in particular, is believed to stand as a move to allow the company to gain insight into the field of commercial self-driving technology and to close the gap on their relative unresponsiveness to the industry.

Apple has released no official statement regarding its letter to California. Earlier in April, Apple received a permit to test self-driving vehicles in the state. Apple became the 30th company in the state to receive such as permit to test autonomous technology, and is reportedly focusing on the commericial transportation industry within the state.

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Recently, other companies including Toyota,Uber, and Tesla have also brought requests to the state in regards to the current policy in California that allows companies to test-drive autonomous vehicles without human pilots or standard steering wheels.

In its request, Apple suggested that the failure reports or “disengagements” that companies testing self-driving tech should be reported in a different manner, with more insight into the nature of the failures such as traffic conditions.

Moreover, Apple suggested that reports from tests should signify more clearly when human intervention is necessary to control a vehicle that may present a safety hazard. The company stated that the definition of autonomous vehicles should be defined to better determine when a permit is needed for more advanced systems. For technology that is more complex and advanced such as semi-trucks, it is argued that these safety restrictions are even more necessary.

Apple’s inclusion of re-visiting permits hearkens back to 2016 when Uber was ordered to stop testing for self-driving vehicles for both passenger and commericial vehicles by the California DMV.