It's been the subject of rumors for a long time but it looks like the Apple self-driving car may actually be in the works. Recent reports give credence to the Cupertino giant's top secret "Project Titan."
According to a Reuters report, Apple has added another expert to their self-driving car project. Judging from his LinkedIn profile, Jamie Carlson is now with the tech giant.
"His profile doesn't go into detail on what he did for Tesla, but he was working on the company's autonomous vehicle firmware project and could be taking on a similar automotive firmware role at Apple," MacRumors speculated.
But Carlson is just the latest to be drafted into Apple's self-driving car project. Reuters pointed out that in the last few months, the iPhone maker has hired at least six other autonomous driving experts.
Reportedly, the "Project Titan" team now includes former Volkswagen AG engineer Megan McClain, Carnegie Mellon University graduate researcher Vinay Palakkode, Paul Furgale, who used to be deputy director of Autonomous Systems Lab at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and Xianqiao Tong who developed driver assistance systems for NVIDIA, among others.
The recruitment spree has now resulted to "more than 200 employees" assigned to the Apple car, MacRumors said.
Work on the said project may be further along than expected. Citing a report by The Guardian, Forbes said "the tech giant has made inquiries into utilizing a Bay Area navy base for vehicle testing."
Reportedly, "Project Titan" engineers met with GoMentum Station reps back in May to discuss the possible use of the 5,000-acre facility in Concord, Calif.
What makes the World War II-era test facility, operated by the Contra Costa Transportation Authority, appealing to Apple is that its infrastructure is similar to a city and that it's closely guarded by the military, Forbes said.
CCTA executive director Randy Iwasaki told The Guardian that Apple has "shown interest" in the facility and even required them to commit to a non-disclosure agreement. But the Apple self-driving car won't start testing just yet as "Project Titan" team members have yet to visit GoMentum Station.
