Apple has built a solid reputation for developing innovative and disruptive products in the computer industry. The race to come up with self-driving cars is now becoming a serious one, with the tech giant of Cupertino entering the market. For close to 2 years now, it has been rumored that the company has been developing a self-driving car, even though this news has been kept as a secret. The company is known to be quite secretive when it comes to its yet to be launched products, although testing something like a new car might present a few challenges to the company confidentiality policies.
Reportedly, in the month of April Apple received an official test permit from the California Department of Motor Vehicles to test its first autonomous vehicle. Apple has been licensed to test its autonomous cars in three 2015 Lexus RX 450h luxury SUV. The vehicles have been spotted along the streets of California as people wait to see the next move that Tom Cook will make with the company. According to analysts, Apple will need to invest and work very hard for their Autonomous Car to hit the road and indeed has a #Long Way to go
The car is rumored to be using similar technology like its competitors and it will be very interesting to see how the developments will be. The car has sensors for navigation purposes including LiDar, which has caused a lot of tension between Uber and Google.
Software development
The company is developing software for its #autonomous car that will in turn power the vehicle rather than going for the hardware. This was a strategy by the company after it wavered in the hardware part and decided to focus on the development of software for its iCar.
Other companies that will give Apple a run for its many that are also developing self-driving cars include technology rivals Google, Uber and also General Motors, BMW, Volkswagen and Tesla.
Projections
Even though this is believed to be a step forward by Apple towards a revolution, the projections are that the company still has a very long way to go into developing self-driving cars. The company is known to be always trailing where other companies have ventured into and a good example is the case of the music players, iPods and iPads.
The company is believed to have enough resources that it could easily buy or invest in technology that can accelerate its process in developing the self-driving cars. Other sources are believed to be hinting that Apple would eventually acquire Tesla.
With the financial muscle that the company has and has developed some of the best products in the world, venturing into self-driving cars will be a great jargon for Apple and it will have to do a lot in terms of innovation and building the car fully hit the market.
